Marvel High School
by The Fandom Equestrian
Summary: Wanda Maximoff and her brother are new students at Avengers High. She makes lots of new friends (and enemies), along with a certain Bucky Barnes. Really bad summary, sorry. WinterWitch Highschool AU. Lots of other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This might suck… I have to start writing before the plot's fully developed otherwise I lose interest and I've had and lost this idea several times now. Hopefully this time it'll stick! I've already got the pairings I want in mind, though. The obvious one is Wanda/Bucky, but the others you'll have to wait and see. I love the Avengers, and I love how the family keeps growing! I wanted to add Peter in this, but compared to the others he'd just be a fetus. Maybe he'll be a younger sibling or a freshman later on? Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

 **P.S.: Something that'll help keep my attention on this story is lots of reviews! Constructive criticism and suggestions are very welcome. Roasting me is as well, because hey it ups the review count lol. Do try to be nice though. Hate to admit it, but my ego is easily wounded.**

 **Xoxo Hailbutter**

-Chapter 1-

Wanda threw her suitcase onto the old mattress. So far she was less than pleased with their new house. It was a major downgrade for sure. They'd gone from four bedrooms to two and a couch, and had to sell all of their furniture, so were left with what the landlord decided to leave here. Thankfully there were beds, a couch, and a television that looked like it came straight out of the sixties.

She should've expected this really. Their family has come to pieces; no way they could afford a place like their old urban mansion. _There could still be less cobwebs,_ she thought glumly as she opened the door to her little closet. On the brightside, this house didn't stink of alcohol yet.

She grabbed hangar after hangar, trying to organize her clothes with somewhat order. She knew it was a futile effort - without a dresser, there wasn't enough space for all of her clothes to hang. It ended with a stuffed closet and her shoes in a pile on the floor.

"Wanda?" Pietro asked. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. He'd likely been there for a while, but she couldn't make herself snap at him for watching her. Since Mom had died and Papa… _neglected_ his responsibilities, he'd taken over making sure she was alright.

"Yes?" she asked, after having glanced at him but not turning around fully.

"I'm going to see if there's any take out places near here. Want to come?"

She paused. "I think I'll stay." she decided. Food sounded great right now, but she didn't feel like taking a stroll through the _lovely_ neighborhood they would now have to call home.

He nodded understandably. "Any requests?"

 _Chinese_ almost rolled across her tongue - nothing made her feel better than orange chicken - but she faltered. _They couldn't afford that now._ "Burritos?" she asked. Taco Bell was probably in their budget.

"I'll see if I can find a place." He spared her one last glance before walking away.

Her fingers brushed across an old family photo, the only one she had with her. A smiling family of four looked up at her, and she brushed away a tear as she realized a picture like this could never be taken of them again. Even just the three of them, it was doubtful any of them could muster up a smile full of innocence like the one from the photo. It was placed carefully on her little bedside table, and she winced as the wood splintered under the weight of the frame.

She stayed in her room a while longer before venturing into the living room, to see a blanket draped across the back of the couch. Pietro had offered to take the couch so she could have the other room, after Papa had flat out refused to give up his room. She felt a pang of gratitude for her twin.

"Wanda," Papa came from the kitchen, holding a half-empty beer bottle.

 _It's starting,_ she wrinkled her nose. She caught sight of another empty bottle on the ground by the couch.

"Hello, Papa." she greeted, not having seen him since they arrived at the house earlier.

"Where's your brother?"

"He's getting food."

"Like?"

"He's looking for Mexican." She replied.

He grunted in disapproval. "I wanted sushi."

She blinked. "You know we can't afford that Papa." His spending habits mixed with the drinking problem were what got them in this dump in the first place.

"Then get a job!" he growled, suddenly angry.

She hated when he got like this. She contemplated hiding his alcohol stash, but the thought was short-lived when she realized he would just go buy more and they'd be more broke than before.

"I'm fifteen!" she retorted.

" _Then you can legally get a job!"_ He spat, and took a step forward. He dropped the bottle he was holding and it shattered on the hardwood floor. A string of profanities came from his mouth as her went to the fridge to grab another and stepped over the mess, going to his room. "Clean it up." he demanded over his shoulder.

She sighed and started picking up the glass, tossing the other empty bottle as well. By the time she'd sponged up the mess, Pietro was walking through the door with a Taco Bell bag over his arm. "Found some!" he grinned, placing it on the counter.

She pulled out her rice and bean burrito, noticing it had gotten a little cold on the walk over. He handed her his as she walked to the microwave to heat it up. She placed them both in and tried to set it for two minutes, but pressing the buttons did nothing. It was plugged in, but nothing was happening. It was broken.

Frustration flooded through her, and she tried to stop the tears that were threatening to spill over, but it was overwhelming. First her mom died, then her father started drinking, he lost his job, they had to move to a new state, ripped from her friends, her home, her family, the house had barely any furniture, her room was mildewed, and she couldn't get the _damn microwave_ to work…

Before she knew it, Pietro was pulling her to his chest with promises of "It'll be okay," and "We'll make it through this." She cried into his shirt for her mom and her dad, and because her twin brother shouldn't be burdened with comforting her.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until her tears had ceased, and wordlessly he pulled their food from the microwave and put them in the oven. When they were hot they each sat on the couch to eat, talking about little nothings like what school would be like tomorrow and the weird guy in line at Taco Bell.

She went to bed early, not wanting to stay awake in the house with the loud noises outside but also dreading her first day at a new school.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey! What's up, peeps? I'm so sorry for the inactivity! I kind of lost interest in writing for a little while; there was some tough stuff in real life. I bought a new horse (takes up a lot of my time), my New Year's resolution is to get all A's in school this semester, and we had to put my dog down just before Christmas. RIP Falco :( But I logged back on and found like 5 reviews! On just the first chapter! (It's a lot for me…) So I will be definitely be getting back to it with this story. I have rough drafts for the next few chapters. I just need to revise and revisit where exactly I was going with this lol. Do you have any suggestions with where you want this to go? All ideas are welcome :)

-Chapter 2-

She almost rolled out of the twin bed, used to her old queen-sized mattress back in New York. Her cell phone alarm was effective but not as soothing as her alarm clock that used to gently draw her from sleep with Adele. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, walking over to her closet.

Opening the door, the unorganized mess caught her by surprise. Surely she'd done a better job than that. Her mouth formed a tight line as she pulled out a pair of dark jeans, a black tank top, and a dark red jacket from the pile. She brushed her long, straight hair and checked her appearance in the splotchy bathroom mirror. She looked pretty good, aside from having I WUZ HERE scratched into her forehead*.

"Wanda!" Pietro called, and she grabbed her backpack before running to the front door.

"Ready." They started the quiet walk to school, ignoring the dumpy neighborhood. A whistle was aimed at her from one of the yards they passed, from a shady guy fixing his car. She tried to expel the image of his too-short-shorts from her mind, and grabbed Pietro's arm to keep him from pummeling the guy.

Without another incident, they made their way to the nicer parts of town, to Marvel High.

They split paths in the crowded halls when her first class was biology and his was geometry. Weaving between students, she suddenly felt out of place without him beside her. Luckily she made it to the bio class without drawing too much attention.

She sat down in an empty chair, pulling out a blank notebook and a pen.

"You're in my seat." was said from someone who had moved to stand next to her.

She blushed and looked down. "Sorry, I'm ne-"

"You're in my seat. He reiterated.

She opened her mouth to apologize again, but instead just picked up her stuff and moved.

"You can sit here." A brown-haired girl said, glaring pointedly at the boy who'd kicked her out.

"Thank you." she said, and sat at the desk with her and another brown-haired girl, the latter wearing glasses.

"You're new, right?" she asked. "My name's Jane, and this is Darcy." The glasses girl waved.

"Yeah, I'm Wanda." she answered, returning the friendly smile.

"Don't mind him. That's Loki; he's an ass." Darcy said, sticking her tongue out at the boy in seated in front of them. Wanda might have thought he hadn't heard if she hadn't noticed him tense.

"Where are you from?" Jane changed the subject.

"New York," she answered.

"Wow, Virginia must be a downgrade," Darcy commented as she pulled out her stuff.

You have no idea. "It's nice." she said instead.

"Well, welcome to Marvel High." Jane nodded. "Why'd you move? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

She swallowed, taking a sudden interest in the desk's pattern. "My mom died and we couldn't afford our old house."

Jane put a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. "I'm so sorry. I know how you feel - my dad died a few years ago."

"I'm sorry," Wanda repeated.

"Have you made any friends here yet?" Jane switched topics skillfully.

"None so far, but it's only first period."

"We'll adopt you then." Darcy stated finally. "You're ours now."

Jane elbowed her friend. "What she means, is we'll introduce you to our friends. They'd love you."

"As fresh meat?" she asked, only half kidding.

Darcy laughed, and Jane let out a chuckle. "No, we're not HYDRAs."

Wanda almost asked what that was, but the teacher walked in, ready to start the lesson. She turned her attention to the board, along with Jane, while Darcy folded sticky notes into little paper planes and not-so-subtly aimed them at Loki.

When the class let out she stood, and Jane grabbed her arm. "Wait - what do you have next?"

"Um, English?" she looked at the crumpled schedule Principal Fury had given her. "With Mr. Ward."

"So do we!" Jane said excitedly. "We'll go together." They collected their stuff and walked down the hall to Mr. Ward's room.

As they took their seats, this time her sitting next to Darcy, she couldn't help but notice how young Mr. Ward was. And cute. Darcy seemed to notice her stare, because she said, "Every girl in school has a crush on him. And some guys too."

She nodded, understanding why.

Jane added, "Last year Darcy faked a Polish accent in his class so he'd invite her to the remedial English meetings every Wednesday." This earned a laugh from Wanda and a blush from Darcy.

"Did it work?"

"No. I forgot to use the accent at times, so instead he told Principal Fury he suspected I had a mental disability."

Wanda laughed harder.

"They called home and everything."

By the time she'd settled down, a boy had walked up to them. "Who's in my seat?"

Not again, she inwardly groaned.

Neither Darcy or Jane seemed threatened by this guy. "Chill, Tony." Jane rolled her eyes. "There's another seat with us right here. This is Wanda; she's new."

Tony got a big smile, and held his hand out for her to shake, which she accepted warily. "Tony Stark. Pleasure to meet you."

"Quit flirting and sit your ass down." Darcy scolded.

Tony didn't seem put off by this, winking at her before taking a seat next to Jane.

"Hello, class." Mr. Ward began, and Wanda couldn't help but smile about the fact that every female in the room, and a few dudes, were hanging on his every word.

A few classes later, it was time for lunch. Walking to the cafeteria, Jane questioned her some more on her old life and explained some things about Marvel High, while Darcy and Tony got into an animated argument over whether C-3PO or R2D2 would win in a fight.

"He doesn't even have arms!" Tony exclaimed as they got their food and sat at a table.

"But he has a lower center of gravity! He can just trip C-3PO up and win. What's he gonna do, knock him over?" Darcy argued.

"What are they arguing about now?" a redheaded girl sat down with a blond boy.

"Something dumb." Jane rolled her eyes. "Natasha, Clint, this is Wanda."

"Nice to meet you," Natasha smiled, shaking her hand, while Clint smiled.

"You as well." The table was filling up, and she hoped she could remember all of these names.

Another group of kids sat down, and Jane introduced them as Thor, Bruce, Steve, Sam, and Pepper. She was also told there was another boy named Bucky, but he was absent today.

Pepper struck up a conversation with her about shopping in New York, because apparently she spent summers there with her Aunt. She found herself growing to like the girl, especially after Clint heard their conversation and muttered, "Girls," so Pepper put a piece of avocado from her salad down the back of his shirt.

She laughed at Clint's look of absolute betrayal, while Steve lost it.

"Do you have any siblings?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah," she answered, so occupied with her new friends that she'd forgotten Pietro was in the school as well. She felt bad for not checking in, but was relieved when she spotted him across the cafeteria, preoccupied with a few new friends of his own. Sibling rivalry took over when she noted she was sitting with more friends than he was, not that she was counting. "My twin brother's over there." She pointed.

Thor nodded in approval. "I have a brother as well. His name's Loki-"

"She's met him." Darcy cut him off.

"Did you like him?" Thor asked hopefully.

"Uhhhhh" she started, but Jane snorted.

"He kicked her out of her seat and didn't even say hi. I wouldn't count on it." Jane rolled her eyes but didn't take her attention off her grilled cheese.

Thor looked disappointed. "My apologies. Loki's a little bitter at the moment."

"How come?" she asked.

"He found out he's adopted last year, and I told him we're still brothers but he thinks otherwise." Thor looked guilty.

"That's dumb. You can be family without having blood relation." Wanda furrowed her brow.

"We tried telling him that." Clint nodded. "But it didn't work and now he's a lone-wolf, grade-A asshole."

Thor made a face. "Please do not call Loki such things. It is not his fault. Father should have told him."

No one said anything about Loki after that.

There were five minutes left of lunch when Pietro decided to check up on her. "How's it going?"

"Good," she smiled. "You?"

"Fitting in well, so far." he nodded. "These your new friends?"

"Yup," Darcy replied before she could.

Clint interrupted, "You guys have cool accents. Where are they from?"

Pietro shrugged. "We lived in Sokovia until we were ten, and I guess they just stuck."

Clint nodded in approval, and Wanda could tell once he was alone he was going to try it. She suppressed a laugh at the idea of him standing alone in a bathroom saying "Sokovia," over and over again.

Then the bell rang, and they were off to their next class.

She sat in her room that night, playing music through her phone. Jane had included her in the friends' group chat and was alternating between painting her toes red and texting.

Jane: We should do something fun this weekend. Anyone free Friday night?

Tony: Yup. What did you have in mind?

A series of "yes" and "like what" lit up her phone screen and she replied "Ya."

Darcy: Let's do a movie night!

Pepper: Definitely!

Jane: My place again?

Wanda: Let's do it!

Unknown Number: Who's that?

Bruce: That's Wanda. She's new to Marvel High.

Unknown Number: & u guys didn't consult me?

Steve: Sorry buck

Tony: We'd trade you for her in a second.

Unknown Number: :/

"Oh," she breathed, realizing that the only number she didn't have in the chat was Bucky's. She laughed at his and Tony's exchange, earning the attention of Pietro.

"Good day?" he asked.

"It went surprisingly well." she nodded, making space on her bed for him. "You meet anyone?"

"I made a few friends." he nodded. "Though you win in that aspect." she smirked.

"Please, that's just extra names to remember. I'm struggling just in the group chat."

He smiled, sitting next to her. "I met this girl named Sharon. And there's this other girl named Skye. It's not her real name, but her parents abandoned her and she landed in foster care, so she doesn't want the name they gave her."

"Ooh, the ladies' man, are we?" she interrupted to tease him.

He grinned. "Always am. But I also met this cool guy named Rhodey. He convinced me to try out for football."

"Nice," she told him truthfully. She could see him doing well in sports - he was always a fast runner.

Their conversation was disrupted by her phone vibrating.

Jane: lol. Bring sleeping bags and we can sleep in my living room.

Wanda smiled at her phone. "I'll be spending the night at Jane's on Friday."

Pietro nodded. "Good. That's when tryouts are and I won't be home until late."

She sighed in relief. She didn't really want to be home alone with their drunk father.

"Anyways, I got tacos this time."

"Crunchy or soft."

"Soft."

"You know me so well." she smiled as they went to the kitchen and heated them up in the oven.

As she sat in bed that night, she remembered a trick for remembering study points for a test the next day. You're supposed to think about it right before falling asleep that night. She flicked off the light and laid her head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling while her eyes focused.

Jane. Brown hair, brown eyes. Kind smile. Very welcoming. Totally the "mom friend" of the group. Darcy. Witty and sarcastic. Reddish-brown hair. Wears glasses. Dislikes Loki. Tony. Rich family. Very smart. Eccentric. Playboy. Pepper. Strawberry hair. Very athletic. In Debate Club. Loves shopping. Bruce. Curly brown hair. Quiet but friendly. Science nerd. Natasha. Red hair. Sort of tomboy. Closest to Clint. Clint. Sandy hair. Sense of humor similar to Darcy's. Closest to Natasha. Thor. Muscular. Long blond hair. Totally going to be the kid graduating high school with a beard. Steve. Basically a puppy. Looks and acts like a golden retriever. Sam. Loyal friend. Athletic. Really likes birds?

Before wondering if she should add Loki to her list, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

* "I WUZ HERE" was written across her forehead because it was scratched into the mirror, if that confused anyone.

Please leave a review; it would make my day!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! I'm liking writing this so far :) If anyone has any ideas with little sub-plots I can throw in, please message me! I'm having lots of ideas myself, but inspiration is always wanted. I really hope you don't mind, but WinterWitch will be pretty slowburn in this. Can you guys guess the other pairings I have lined up for this?**

 **Please leave a review; they spur me on!**

-Chapter 3-

She was heading to Mr. Ward's class alone since she'd had to stop to get her English notes from her locker. Jane and Darcy had offered to wait up, but she insisted they go ahead. Her locker was only down the next hall.

After she grabbed her stuff, she walked quickly down the hall so she wouldn't be late. Unfortunately after she went around one corner she collided with a brown-haired boy. Said boy dropped his books and muttered, "Damn."

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she stammered, picking up his stuff for him.

His eyes softened, and he said, "Don't worry about it. Happens all the time. I should really look where I'm going."

She handed the books back. "Well, I was the one flooring it down the hallway."

"Thanks." He took them. Then he looked her up and down, as if he hadn't really seen her yet. "Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you."

"Oh, yeah," she answered lamely, hoping she wouldn't miss the bell. "I'm Wanda."

He furrowed his brow for a second before he seemed to suddenly realize who she was. "Oh, Wanda! Great to meet you finally. I'm Bucky." He shifted his stuff to one arm to shake her hand.

She shook the offered hand and smiled. So this was Bucky… He was nice so far, like the others. "It's nice to meet you too."

"You'll be at the movie night Friday, right?" He asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"Good." he nodded. "Me too. Definitely come, Jane throws great movie nights. She's got it down to a science."

She laughed. "She's kind of a mom friend, isn't she?"

He chuckled. "Yes, she is. When we all turn 21 we've already dubbed her as our designated driver."

She nodded, imagining Jane shepherding their drunk friends to a big minivan. Or maybe they'd rent a bus…

The bell rang, and she inwardly groaned. "Noooo, I can't be late on the second day!"

Bucky seemed to only panic for a second. Then he smirked, grabbing a tissue and a packet of ketchup from his bag. "Tony taught me this trick." he grabbed her arm when she tried to turn and run to class. "If you go now you'll just be marked late." he reasoned.

"If I don't go I'll be marked absent."

He shrugged. "That's why you're going. Give me a second." He opened the ketchup packet and smeared it on his nose and the tissue, then held the "bloodied" tissue over his nose. The empty packet was tossed into a nearby trash can.

"Okay, so here's the plan…."

"Mr. Ward?" She directed Bucky by his elbow through the door to the class. "I found him in the hall. I'm taking him to the nurse."

The teacher looked from her to the bloodied student, and seemed to nod. "Alright. Come back right after."

After they left the classroom, and Bucky made a show of tipping his head back to stop the "bleeding," Wanda broke down laughing in the hallway while he grinned.

"Brilliant." she said.

"Tony never ceases to amaze." He nodded. "Now we have to do my teacher."

They pulled the same feat on Mrs. May, and she was instructed to really make it convincing, because apparently Mrs. May was much better at detecting that sort of thing. Thankfully, she fell for it. If she didn't, she didn't say anything.

They stopped at the water fountain so he could wash off the ketchup. "You're going to smell like french fries." she pointed out.

He shrugged. "At least my mom won't kill me for being late again."

Wanda nodded. Her father probably wouldn't even care. Pietro would, however. And the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him. "Now what?"

"You should go to class now. If anyone asks you, you just took me to the nurse and came back. I'll handle the rest. I'll go back to class in a few minutes so it's less suspicious." He told her. "It was only a nosebleed."

She nodded. "See you at lunch, Barnes."

"See ya, Maximoff."

"I can't believe you guys pulled that on Mrs. May. She has eyes in the back of her eyes!" Tony was incredulous.

Bucky popped a grape in his mouth. "It was pretty easy. You should know - it's your trick."

"What did the teacher say when you returned with a perfectly normal nose?" Bruce asked.

"Really bad nosebleed."

The conversation switched and pretty soon Jane and Pepper were practically begging her to try out for soccer with them.

"It'll be so much fun!" Pepper pleaded. "Jane and I did it last year, but we only made the freshman team."

"I'm going to suck. I've never played a school sport before." Wanda was still unsure.

"Worst comes to worst you don't make the team." Jane told her.

"And make us look better by comparison." Jane kicked Pepper in the shins, but Wanda just laughed.

"I still don't know, guys."

Just then, Tony turned to her and gave her a scary look. "Do it, Maximoff."

"Why can't Darcy do it?"

Darcy glared at Jane. "She convinced me last year. I fell on my face and broke my glasses."

"Natasha?" Wanda was desperate.

Nat shook her head. "I'm taking karate - I don't have time."

She sighed in resignation. "Fine. I'll try out for soccer."

Pepper squealed. "Great! Tryouts are on Monday. Hopefully we'll all make it."

"Doubtful." A raven-haired girl walked by.

"Excuse you?" Darcy asked.

"Well, it's not like you guys are going to make the team." The girl laughed. "What, you think you have a chance?"

"Shut up, Hela." Tony growled.

Hela just laughed before walking away.

"She-devil." Clint muttered.

"Who's she?" Wanda asked.

"Her name's Hela. She's my cousin." Thor looked down apologetically.

She wanted to tell him not to be sorry - it wasn't his fault his family was shitty. Besides, it's not like her father was any good these days either.

"Ignore her." Bucky told them. "You'll make varsity."

"I wouldn't go that far." Pepper blushed.

"I would. You're amazing, Pep." Tony complimented. If it were possible, Pepper blushed even harder.

Just then the bell rang, and Bucky, Jane, Darcy, Pepper, Tony, Clint, and Wanda all went to gym.

"Alright, class. Today we're playing dodgeball." Ms. Hill told them, as one of the students brought out the cart full of balls. "Pick your teams. If there's arguing, we'll do guys vs girls."

Wanda groaned, along with Darcy and Jane, but Pepper's eyes twinkled mischievously. She stood on a side with her new friends and a few other students, frowning when she realized Hela was on the other team, along with Loki.

Dodgeball is one of those stereotypical high school trainwrecks that you'd think teachers would know better than to let kids play them. All high school drama movie conflicts come out over a violent game of dodgeball, usually sending the new girl (she was uneasy when she realized that in this scenario it was her) to the nurse. Occasionally they get a boyfriend out of the ordeal, but that didn't seem likely.

The balls were set in the middle and the whistle was blown. She scrambled for a ball and chucked it, hitting a kid in the leg. He sulked off while she smiled proudly. "Watch out," Bucky warned her as a ball came whizzing past her left ear. Okay, so apparently there wasn't a below the waist rule at this school. She took note of that as she hit another kid square in the chest.

"Nice," Jane told her.

She was about to yell at Darcy to watch out, but the words died on her lips. Just as Hela had set her eye on Darcy and threw the ball, Loki's ball knocked Hela's out of it's path and Darcy didn't even notice what had almost happened.

She looked at Loki, trying to figure out if he had done it on purpose. He caught her stare and shrugged in return, aiming a ball at Clint.

She ran to Pepper, picking a ball up off the ground and throwing it at the opposing team. "You're really good at this." Wanda commented, a little scared about how competitive she was getting.

Pepper apparently didn't see her there, because she had to turn to see who it was. "Oh, thanks." As the strawberry-haired girl bent over to pick up another ball, a basketball hit her straight in the jaw.

"Shit!" Pepper cursed, dropping the ball she was holding and putting a hand over her jaw.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asked, concerned. It hadn't ceased gameplay, but much of their team being Pepper's friends, there were only a few people from their side still on offense.

Tony deflected a ball with the one he was holding as he made his way over to her. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded, but didn't move her hand.

"Show me." Tony insisted, and she slowly removed her hand.

"Is it bad?"

There was a scrape and what would be a definite bruise. He brushed his finger over it and she winced. He sent a glare to the other team. "It'll bruise."

She sighed. "Darn."

Wanda turned when she felt a ball hit her in the leg, albeit more lightly than the one thrown at Pepper had been, leading her to believe it wasn't Hela. Nevertheless, she flipped off whoever had thrown it when they had a man down before going to stand on the sidelines.

Pepper went and sat on the sidelines with her, deciding to join back in on the next round. "Hela's a bitch." she said with a glare.

"Agreed," Wanda confirmed. She hadn't known this Hela girl long, but so far she'd been deemed bitch-worthy. "You'll be okay?"

Pepper nodded, "It's no biggie. It just stung in the moment."

"Dodgeball is brutal." Wanda said with a laugh.

They ended up winning the game, and the two girls stood back up to high-five their team before joining in for the next round.


	4. Chapter 4

**I liked writing this chapter. I feel like it really explores the dynamics of the group. There was also some humorous bits I threw in there. Let me know if you guys find that funny, and I'm going to try to put more in future chapters. I guess the plot itself of this chapter felt a little boring, but it felt necessary for incorporating Wanda into the group. What do you think?**

-Chapter 4-

School on Friday went pretty quickly. Hela hadn't bugged them at all since yesterday, and there were thankfully no more tardiness incidents. Overall, it seemed everyone in their group had had a good day. Tony came to lunch boasting about how Jessica Jones had agreed to go out with him, and Bruce was excited about the science fair. He started explaining the thing-a-majig he was going to make, but nobody really understood what he was talking about besides Tony. The two got into a heated debate about hydroelectricity while Darcy mocked their facial expressions.

Wanda pulled out her phone and texted Pietro, _Good luck at tryouts! Getting my stuff then heading to Jane's 4 the night. :)_

Pietro: _Thanks. Have fun :)_

She didn't have a sleeping bag, but picked up her blanket and pillow and stuffed them in a bag with a change of clothes. She then trekked back through her neighborhood. She was still unsure about walking around by herself - she always got catcalls and she was nearly positive at least one of the houses was a meth lab.

Thankfully, Jane's place was in a much better part of town, closer to the school. She looked at the address on her phone and walked up to a big house. She knocked on the door, and Pepper answered. "I'm so glad you're here!" she engulfed her in a hug, which she returned, even though she'd seen the other girl a mere hour ago.

Jane caught sight of her and smiled. It looked like half of the group was here, and Natasha was popping the popcorn.

Darcy grabbed her coat from the hook and turned to Wanda. "Put your stuff down and then make a run to Dollar Tree with me."

"Bucky, go with them. Darcy always picks out weird stuff and I don't know Wanda's candy tastes yet." Jane commanded.

Bucky saluted, with a "Yes, ma'am."

As they were leaving, Darcy shouted, "Circus Peanuts are food of the gods!"

"Circus Peanuts are disgusting!" Jane hollered from the kitchen. "And get some sodas while you're there!"

Wanda stuffed her hands in her pockets. It was only late September, but the weather had gotten chilly already. It looked like it was about to rain, actually. She prayed it wouldn't while they walked the few blocks to the shopping center.

Shockingly, she'd never actually been in a dollar tree. Her mother would have a heart attack if she saw her in one. Mrs. Maximoff liked nice things, and Dollar Tree was a little below her. Times were different, though, now. She walked into the store with low expectations, because what could possibly only cost a dollar? A king-size Hershey bar at the gas station was more than that.

Her expectations were shattered. It was magnificent! There were household decorations, food, candy, toys, drinks, kitchen supplies, everything you could imagine. Even beauty products. She looked around in awe.

"What, you never been in here before?" Darcy asked, and Bucky was giving her a curious look.

"No, actually." she admitted. "Everything's only $1?"

They nodded.

She fingered the five dollars she had in her pocket for an emergency. Pietro would be ecstatic if she brought home some simple things to make so he didn't have to run to Taco Bell every night. Plus she was getting a little sick of bean burritos.

They made their way to the candy aisle, and Bucky pursed his lips as Darcy immediately threw a bag of Circus Peanuts into the basket. "What? It's not like that's all we're getting." she rolled her eyes.

Bucky grabbed Reeses, M&Ms, Milk Duds, Hershey's Kisses, and Twizzlers in the basket. Wanda chose carefully, not wanting to pick something gross for the group. She picked out a pack of Charleston Chews, Sweet Tarts Chews, Sour Patch Kids, and Hi-Chews.

They got three gallon jugs of soda, orange Crash, Bug's Rootbeer, and some carbonated grape thing Darcy assured them was good. They took that recommendation with a grain of salt. Of course there were only knock-off ersatz brands of the drinks, but they were close enough.

"Are we good?" Wanda asked.

"It's hard to be good without black licorice, but Jane will be happy." Darcy nodded.

They walked to the checkout and Darcy handed the cashier the twenty Jane had given her.

She smoothed out the five in her pocket, and asked, "Is it alright if I actually get some stuff for our new house?" It wasn't entirely a lie. She just skipped the part where she needed to shop here because they were broke.

"Sure," Bucky said as Darcy gave her a strange look.

She left them for a minute, finding a pack of paper plates, and two cans of refried beans that would be easy. She also grabbed some crackers, and left the last dollar for tax.

She drummed her fingers on the counter as the cashier bagged her stuff, and she joined her friends at the door.

"Got everything you need?" Bucky asked.

"Yes," she lied.

They sprinted back to Jane's when the wind picked up and it started to sprinkle. "Don't shake the soda!" Darcy yelled at Bucky as they ran.

They took off their wet jackets and shoes when they got inside, and everyone had arrived.

"You guys missed the movie voting." Clint said as they sat on the floor.

"What are we watching?" Darcy asked.

Jane flicked the TV on. "First we're watching White Chicks."

Apparently they had a group movie night tradition, where they always watched one comedy/action movie, one chick-flick, and last a horror movie.

Sodas were poured and candy passed around. By the time they were halfway through Dolphin Tale, they were out of soda and running low on candy. Except Circus Peanuts. They had a surplus of those as only Darcy was eating them.

Wanda found it hilarious that the guys were the ones getting most emotional at the chick-flick, but Pepper gave her a look like it was a normal occurance to see Steve blowing his nose over a dolphin's prosthetic.

It was midnight when the horror movie ended, and while Pepper and Bruce looked exhausted, for Thor, Nat, and Tony the party was just starting. The rest were in limbo between the two extremes.

"Let's play truth or dare." Clint suggested.

The others agreed, and they sat in a lopsided circle, with Sam, Steve, Jane, and Pepper on the couch and the rest on the floor.

"Nothing too loud." Jane warned. "My mom's asleep upstairs."

Tony volunteered to go first. "Jane. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

He was obviously skilled at this game, not even needing time to think about the dare. "Let Clint style your hair and wear it that way for the rest of the game."

Jane groaned, but moved to sit in front of Clint, who was rubbing his hands together devilishly.

As he started and the girls passed him hair-ties, Jane said, "Bucky, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Do the worm."

He rolled his eyes, and moved to the center of the circle. Then he proceeded to do something that somewhat resembled the worm, but with more faceplants and seizures. The entire room was in tears by the time he was done, and he looked to be in a bit of pain. "Every time," Wanda thought she heard him mutter, which made it even more hilarious.

Amidst the laughter, he said, "Steve, truth or dare?"

Steve, never one to back down from a dare, replied, "Dare."

"Take a measuring cup and ask the neighbors for a cup of sugar."

Steve pouted, not wanting to wake up poor neighbors at this hour.

"Do it!" Clint encouraged, holding a bobby pin in his mouth.

Steve sighed, grabbing a measuring cup from the kitchen and heading out the door.

They waited ten minutes for him to return, and Sam joked, "He's probably helping an old lady or something." When he did come back he was looking really guilty but holding back a laugh.

"I had to go to three houses before someone would answer but…" He put the measuring cup in the center, for everyone to see that it was full of sugar.

Thor gave a big, booming laugh, and Jane was trying not to cackle herself. "It was poor old Mrs. Heifer wasn't it?"

Steve nodded, and Jane broke out laughing. "I can't believe we just woke her up! You guys should be ashamed!"

Steve sobered up and asked, "Tony, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Let Pepper paint your nails."

He groaned, and Pepper laughed. "Yes!" she shouted. Jane directed her to the nail polish in her bathroom, and she picked a bright purple color that made Tony want to gag. Still, he held his hands out to her and she got to work.

"I'm taking this off before school tomorrow. Thor, truth or dare?" he then turned back to Pepper, "Still, you better do a good job."

"Truth," Thor was the first to choose this.

Tony actually had to think for this one. "How did you and Loki not figure out one of you was adopted if you're practically the same age?"

Thor nodded, "We are ten months apart, so it is very possible for us to be brothers by blood."

Wanda hummed. She'd been wondering that for a while.

"Wanda, truth or dare?" he asked her, and she flipped a mental coin in her head really quickly, before saying "Truth."

"Why do you have Dollar Tree refried beans in your bag?"

She froze. He was probably expecting something like "For a prank." or other, so she couldn't blame him. However, there wasn't a good answer to this without giving up her home situation, and for some reason she did not want them knowing about her alcoholic father or broken home. "Money's kinda tight right now." she shrugged.

The room went quiet.

"I'm sure your dad appreciates your help." Jane put a hand on her shoulder.

She restrained herself from snorting. He didn't give a damn. Whether she helped or not she would always be a burden in his eyes. Still, she nodded.

"I could've given you a couple bucks." Bucky offered.

"Thanks, but I don't want to take anything from you guys. I'm hoping my dad will land back on his feet soon." That part was the truth. If he could put down the beer for five minutes and actually go to work, their lives could improve.

They nodded understandably. "Still, if you ever need any help, we'd be there." Bruce, ever the quiet kid, spoke up. She smiled at them all as some of the others nodded. She promised herself she'd never take them up on the offer, but it was touching nonetheless.

"Sam, truth or dare?" The game continued, with most people choosing dare. Truth was almost unnecessary because of how well the group knew each other. In that way she felt like an outsider, but they treated her as if she'd always been there. It meant more than she could put into words - she'd been so worried of forever being the new kid, but she never felt like that with them. Jane especially was insanely welcoming and friendly, and the others just kind of rolled with it when she brought her into the group.

It was one in the morning and they were now fitted into Jane's living room like a human jigsaw, bathed in darkness. The group had quieted down, and it looked like Pepper was sleeping already. Bruce and Steve looked close to it. They had gone from humorous banter to long, philosophical conversations.

"I miss Loki." Thor slipped out.

"If he got off his high, brooding horse he could come back." Darcy said. "He was our friend; he just pushed us away."

Jane bit her lip before saying, "I feel like we should've done more to make him stay."

"Like what?" Clint asked. "I know he was hurt, but he was an ass to us. What could we have done?"

Jane 'hmm'ed, and then the room was silent.

Wanda wondered what Loki had been like before the adoption revelation, but she doubted she'd ever get a chance to know. But it didn't matter; the friends she had now were all she needed.

 **Leave a review, please! If you have suggestions or anything you want to see happen, let me know and I'll try to work it in. It might not happen right away because I write several chapters ahead to give myself a cushion just in case I suffer from writer's block (so far it's working pretty well). Also, does anyone have any ideas for throwing Stephen Strange in this? It won't happen for a while, but I feel like putting him in here.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! I've got some lovely reviews, and I just feel the need to respond to them! Seriously, guys, these make my day! BTW: If you make a suggestion that I say I'll be using, but don't see it in the next update: A) I have already written a few chapters ahead just in case I get writer's block (this is chapter 5 but I'm writing chapter 7 at the moment). And B) I have a fragile web spun (hehe Spidey reference) for the future of this fic to keep myself on track, and need to put it somewhere that makes sense. I AM listening to you guys, I swear!**

 **Amora: Thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot that people enjoy reading this as much as I like writing it. Your review is also the longest I've gotten by far. While this is WandaxBucky-centric, I've spent a LOT of time developing and planning out arcs for other characters. I recently had to sit down and say to myself, "Focus, Hailey! You have nothing for your main pairing!" Luckily I was able to fill an entire piece of paper with ideas for them, so that's all sorted. Yes, I do plan a big arc for Loki! He will have some redemption and some setbacks… Your suggestion has actually given me a lot of ideas, so thank you!**

 **Kittyjune26: Thank you for your input and suggestion! I hadn't thought of making him still young, but a prodigee. May the fetus jokes from the others ensue…**

 **Everyone who commented on Tony's fabulous nails: I'm glad you found that funny! That's about the extent of my comedic abilities, but I'll try to put more of that into this!**

-Chapter 5-

Monday morning, her stomach was turning. Tryouts for the girls' soccer team was that afternoon, and she'd had butterflies all night.

After the movie night, in the morning they'd all gone home after Jane made them hot chocolate. Pepper had offered to walk her home, but she refused. They knew money was tight for her, but she did not want them knowing where she lived. It sounded like the others lived in nice houses in the good parts of town. She knew Tony lived in a mansion, and she thought she heard Steve mention a flat-screen TV at one point.

Pietro had left the house early, since football players got to school at seven for weight training. She grabbed a handful of animal crackers to eat on her walk to school, grabbed her backpack, and prepared to walk out the door.

"Where are you going?" Papa demanded, standing up from the couch and swaying a bit. _Uh oh._

"School, Papa." she replied.

He furrowed his brow, and she thought he might tip over. "It's Saturday."

"No, Papa." she sighed. "It's Monday. You're drunk." Which also meant he wouldn't be going to work that day either.

He slurred, "'M not! I'll go to work today."

She mentally debated whether to let him or not. If he didn't show up, he could claim another sick day, which would suck because he's only been working there for four days and only been to two of them. However if he went drunk, his alcoholism would become apparent and they'd fire him for sure.

"Papa, just stay home today. I'll call in sick for you. Do _not_ leave the house." He looked about to object, but instead flopped back on the couch, causing it to creak.

"Hello?" _Mr. Smith's Plumbing Services. How may I help you?_ "I'm calling on behalf of a Mr. John Maximoff. He'll be taking a sick day." _Another? And who is this?_ "This is his daughter, Wanda, I'll be sure he gets to work tomorrow." _I have no interest in an employee who's not even going to show up!_

They hung up, and Wanda's stomach twisted painfully. Her father would be fired in the first week at this rate. Then what? They'd have no money.

She pushed these thoughts aside as she left the house, turning down the sidewalk.

To her surprise, about half way through the sketchy neighborhood, a familiar voice called her name. "Wanda! Wanda!"

She turned, and Bruce was running to catch up with her. "I didn't know you lived around here." he said, slowing his pace when he caught up.

"I didn't know you lived here, either." she said.

"Yeah, my dad's kind of horrible." he shook his head. "At least he tries."

Her dad said he tried, but did he really? His alcoholism has only gotten worse. But she shoved those thoughts aside. "Mine, too."

He nodded, and they kept walking. "You know, we could walk to school together. It's not really safe in this neighborhood; I wouldn't want you walking alone."

Wanda breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to admit it, but these streets scared her. It was a maze of alleys and creeps wandering around. She'd gotten catcalled more times than she could count. Company would be greatly appreciated. "I'd like that. This place freaks me out."

Bruce nodded, and before long they were at the school. The walk didn't seem so long and treacherous when she had someone to talk to.

The school day had flown by, and it was time for soccer tryouts. Her, Pepper, and Jane were currently in the girls' locker room, changing into their PE clothes. Hopefully, they would soon be traded for soccer uniforms.

"I'm so nervous!" Jane pulled her hair back into a high pony.

Pepper finished tying her shoes. "You'll be great. You too, Wanda. Just play like we've been doing all summer. You're ready for this. Now, let's go out to the field."

Wanda followed them out to the soccer field and tried not to feel intimidated at the long lineup of girls trying out. She caught Hela staring at them and quickly averted her eyes.

"Ok!" The coach began. She was a very athletic-looking woman, and she was young. "I'm Ms. Hill, as most of you know, and I'm the coach for girls' soccer. Along with cheerleading and weight training, but that's not what we're here for today." she walked up and down the line, eyeing them all. "We're going to have a game. This half," she pointed to the side they were on, "will be pennies and this side," she gestured to the other half, "will be shirts. Go get your pennies and then on the field!" She blew the whistle and her and half the other girls walked over to the bleachers, where there was a basket full of brightly colored pennies.

Thankfully, Jane, Pepper, and herself were on the same team.

"Go girls! You got this!" came a loud voice from the top of the bleachers. They looked up to see Tony, Bucky, Sam, Darcy, and Thor all there to watch. She assumed the others couldn't make it, which was fine by her. She didn't want too many people witnessing first-hand her imminent failure.

She waved to them, then they went to join the shirts on the field. A whistle blew, and the game began.

The other girls were getting aggressive with the ball, each wanting possession of it to show off their skills. Wanda quickly realised she was going to have to get mean or she wouldn't be noticed by the coach. While a girl she recognized as Carol, a shirt, had the ball, she swiftly kicked the ball out from under her, sending speeding towards Jane. Her friend skillfully caught the ball under her foot before moving it towards their goal. Wanda tracked her with the ball, her and Pepper making a protective bubble from any of the other team's defense.

Jane passed it to Pepper to make the shot, but one of the shirts was too close for comfort, and she kicked it to Wanda. Wanda panicked for a half-second, but then instinct took over and she forcefully launched the ball into the net. Some cheers erupted from the bleachers, and she looked up to see Thor waving a sign that read, " _Go Pepper, Wanda, and Jane!"_

She smiled proudly as her teammates high-fived her, but made sure to give Pepper and Jane most of the credit. They'd set up the easy shot for her.

"Nice, girl!" Jane yelled, giving her a side hug.

Next, the shirts managed to make a goal. They were tied, and it was looking like whoever made this next one was going to win the game.

It started off great; the pennies were in possession of the ball and moving towards the goal fast. It was passed to Wanda, who went moving with it until…

A foot slid under her legs, tripping her and sending her face-first into the grass. It was safe to say she'd lost the ball.

"Hey! That was a foul!" Jane whined loudly.

"What was a foul? She fell!" Hela yelled, and Wanda instantly knew she was the culprit.

Ms. Hill blew her whistle. "I didn't see it. There were other players in front of you. Reset, still tied."

Pepper turned the shade of her hair, and what about to say something before Jane cut her off. "Hela tripped her! That's against the rules."

Hela plastered a look of offense on her face. "I did no such thing!" she hollered back. "She fell, and last I checked, clumsiness wasn't against the rules!"

"It's fine, Jane." Wanda put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Leave it be."

"She tripped you! She cheated!" Jane looked outrageous, and Wanda pretended she didn't hear the loud booing coming from the bleachers.

"I know, but we get to reset. She's not getting away with it."

"Yes she is- you _had_ it."

"Let's just keep playing. She won't get away with it if we make the next shot anyways." Wanda reassured her, and Jane begrudgingly agreed. They got in their places, and played again.

The ball was passed from Pepper to another penny, who kicked it through a narrow space between two shirts all the way to Jane, who ran with it a bit, stopped, and passed it back to Pepper.

Pepper didn't hesitate as she drew her foot back and slammed her toe into the ball, sending it into the upper corner of the net where the goalie couldn't reach.

Cheers erupted, and Pepper was high-fived by nearly everyone. Even the shirts were impressed, though a little upset that they'd blown their shot during tryouts.

Ms. Hill stood in front of them and blew her whistle to direct their attention back to her. "Good job, ladies! You all played very well, and the score was 2-1 with pennies winning. This will be a tough decision, because only so many of you can go into Varsity, and Junior Varsity. However the number of freshman trying out is less than usual, so a few people not making V or JV can be placed in there. Rest up, and the list will be posted tomorrow."

The group was dismissed, and Pepper, Jane, and Wanda chatted nervously.

"It would be so embarrassing to be a sophomore on the freshman team." Pepper shivered.

"I would just quit." Jane laughed.

"Awesome, guys!" Tony clapped as he and the others made their way down to them. "You nailed it!"

Darcy walked right up to Wanda and touched the dirt on her cheek. "Hey, I did that." she commented happily.

"So can we murder Hela now, or…" Bucky asked seriously, his eyes following the raven-haired girl as she crossed the field.

"No murder. That's illegal." Sam reminded. "But on the next Purge count me in."

They laughed and started walking away.

"I wonder if we made the team or not." Jane asked. Her, Pepper, Darcy, and Wanda were currently sitting on the floor of her room talking. Darcy was allowing Pepper to paint her nails a warm red color that matched her hair. Wanda was only half listening as she fiddled with her phone.

"Earth to Wanda," Jane waved a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?" She was pulled out of her trance. The others were looking at her.

"We asked if you knew why Nat couldn't make it." Darcy repeated.

"Oh, um, no." she answered honestly. She had no idea where the redhead was at the moment.

"Is something wrong?" Pepper asked her, concerned. She wasn't usually this spacey when hanging out with her new friends.

Of course something was wrong. She had texted Pietro when he got home, asking how Papa was. He replied with, _He's at work, why?_ She had specifically _told_ Papa _not_ to go into work today, and called in sick for him. They knew he wasn't coming and they were pissed, but not as pissed as they would be when he showed up drunk off his ass.

She feared for her family; they didn't have enough money for this. They could barely afford their dumpy rental on money Mama left to them, and Dad was using everything he made from work to support his bad habits.

She couldn't tell her friends this. She didn't know why, but she really didn't want them knowing this about her. They would look at her with pity, and she liked being treated like an equal. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Of course we'll worry about it. We're your friends." Jane replied.

Darcy said, "Tell us, girlfriend!"

She breathed out slowly, resigned. "Fine, but this stays between the four of us, okay?"

They nodded. "We'll take this to the grave if you want us to. You can trust us."

Another sigh. "Okay. So, like I said my family was going through a rough patch? My dad has really bad alcoholism. He was piss drunk this morning so I called in sick for work for him and told him to stay home, because if he showed up like that, then they would definitely fire him. And he's only been working there for a week! But then I just texted my brother, and he went to work anyways…"

"Oh, Wanda." Jane said softly. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't want pity." she said quickly.

"Not pity," Jane said. "Sympathy. My mom had a drinking problem for a while after my dad passed, but thankfully she got the therapy she needed and now she's doing well."

Pepper nodded. "What, did you think we'd treat you differently or something? We all have problem of our own. And you know, even if we were to tell the others, it wouldn't change anything."

Wanda nodded.

"Yeah!" Darcy added. "There's the infamous Loki adoption scandal, Bruce's dad is a piece of shit, one time Jane got drunk on accident and-"

"Shut. Up." Jane hissed.

"No, it was really funny-"

" _Zip it, Lewis."_ Jane's tone was deadly. Pepper was laughing in the background.

"Wait, wait. How do you get drunk 'on accident,' and what happened? You have to tell me now." Wanda begged.

Jane sighed. "Okay, so it was a prank last year. Darcy, Pepper, Nat, and I got dragged to Pepper's mom's birthday party, and we were the only girls our age. There was wine for everyone else, obviously, but Darcy grabbed me a cup of something and told me it was grape juice."

Wanda was already laughing. "DIdn't you think it tasted off?"

"Yes!" Jane said. "But we were at a really fancy party and I didn't want to insult their taste in grape juice, so I drank some."

"Oh my god," Wanda giggled.

"I know." Jane was trying not to smile herself. "But I got pretty drunk. And then…"

They kept swapping stories like that until it was time for the other girls to go home. Wanda noticed with unease as her and the others split off that it was starting to get dark. It was that time of evening when shadows are _everywhere_. She got nearly to her part of town before suddenly chickening out. Down the street she could see the man who'd catcalled her on her first day.

Now what? She physically could not force her legs to walk down this street. She pulled out her phone and opened Pietro's contact. Then she hesitated. Knowing she was afraid to walk to their house would upset him; he already resented this situation. She didn't want to make him feel worse.

She found herself opening Bruce's contact instead, and before she could stop herself, she was typing a message.

 _Wanda: Hey, so sorry to bug you :/ but it's getting dark and I really don't want to walk to my house alone. Could you meet me at the corner of Zloda St. and Wrigley Dr?_

It was only a few seconds before the typing symbol popped up, and then a message.

 _Bruce: Stay right there._

She sighed in relief. She did feel a little bad for making Bruce walk out here alone, but he'd seemed more comfortable in the environment. Plus, he'd lived here longer. He knew what to avoid and little shortcuts.

She saw a figure walking in the distance, and thought for a second it was Bruce, until he got closer and the man was much taller than her curly-haired friend. She kept her eyes down, hoping he would just walk past her.

"What's little lady like you doin' out here?" No such luck.

"Um, nothing." was all she could think to say.

"Nothing?" he scratched his chin, then leaned in closer. She could smell the smoke on his breath. "I could give ya a lil' somethin'."

Just then, a voice yelled, "Hey!"

Both Wanda and the man turned. To her immense relief, Bruce was half-jogging towards her alongside… Bucky?

They stopped next to her, and Bucky stared the man down menacingly. "Is he bothering you?" he asked lowly.

"Just being a creep. Let's go." Wanda grabbed his elbow and tugged him in the other direction. They followed hesitantly, and she said, "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Bruce said.

"I didn't know you lived out here." Bucky inquired.

"Yeah," Wanda sighed. "Not really something to brag about."

"Well it's not a _bad_ thing." Bucky defended.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Dude, yeah it is. This place sucks." The normally talkative boy had nothing to say to that.

When they got to her house, she said goodbye on the lawn, giving them each a hug. "Thank you, both."

"Anytime," Bruce offered.

"Yeah, me too. No one should be walking out here alone. HYDRAs are everywhere." Bucky peered around like a paranoid cartoon character, but his tone held some seriousness in it.

"I've been meaning to ask; what are HYDRAs?" she asked. That had been bugging her since she heard the term on her first day.

"HYDRA is a gang. They're bad people." Bruce warned.

"Oh," she waved again, and then walked up to the door. She han't expected there to be a gang problem here in Virginia. In her part of New York there were a few smaller groups, and she'd been hoping to leave all of the graffiti behind when she moved. Apparently not. Inside, her father was sitting on the couch. "Did you go to work today?" she asked him cautiously.

He turned to face her slowly, his eyes sunken. He looked like a shell of the man he used to be. "No; I went to pick up some more scotch. Why?"

She heaved a sigh of relief. _So he didn't go to work._ "No reason," she went straight to her room and shut herself in until the next morning.

 **Please leave a review! ~Hailey**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! I am loving you guys' feedback on this story! I haven't gotten a single negative review (probably just jinxed myself, but oh well). You guys seem to be liking this, and I love writing these characters!**

 **Amora: Aw! Thank you so so much for the kind words! Your reviews always make me smile. I'm glad you liked Bruce and Bucky; the girls are always hanging out on their own, so who's to say the guys don't as well? I doubt I'm THE nicest person you've ever met, but always feel free to leave a review on my stories! Or message me, or anything really. I want everyone to feel welcome and safe. :) Loki and Wanda are totally misunderstood! And after seeing how both of them turned out…. Are we sure Thor isn't the adopted one? Lol. Also, YES I am almost positive Thanos did something to Loki. Notice how he is NEVER beat up, except in the beginning of Avengers after making his deal? I haven't seen Tales of Asgard, but now I need to see it! Oh, look, I'm rambling now, too. Not sure this chapter will be up to standard; it doesn't get as interesting until the next one.**

 **Thewritevoice: If we could murder fictional characters, Umbridge would be long gone lol. And if you don't like him now, you're going to hate him soon!**

 **Kittyjune26: Thank you! I'll find a way to work your idea in soon!**

-Chapter 6-

At school the next day, they were waiting for the bell to ring in their usual meeting place. Tony and Darcy were once again arguing about something pointless while Bruce attempted to mediate. Sam and Steve were in the middle of a very intense thumb wrestle, and the occasional "Hey, no stadium-tipping!" would come from Steve. It was a normal Tuesday morning. That is, until they saw something that shocked them all.

Nat was on crutches.

"Woah, Nat, what happened?" Jane was the first to ask as everyone crowded around.

Nat huffed, a strand of her red hair flying out of her face. "It sucked," she said.

Her statement was undermined by Clint exclaiming, "It was awesome!" at the same time. He had walked up with her, and had her maroon backpack slung over his shoulder.

"You have to tell us!" Darcy urged.

She shifted her weight to the side, not used to the bulky crutches. "Maybe you should sit first." Wanda suggested.

Nat nodded and Wanda stood up from her seat.

She sat down slowly before starting. "Okay, so I was in the middle of sparring with this girl in the tournament."

"And kicking ass," Clint added.

She ignored him. "I went to hit her with a spinning kick at the same time she went to trip me, but she also grabbed my foot to block herself… and suddenly I had no legs. I fell on my right ankle."

"Ouch," Pepper commented.

"Yeah," Nat nodded.

"Can I sign your cast?" Tony asked, already with a sharpie out.

"It's only sprained; it's a brace." Nat explained.

"But a _metallic silver_ sharpie will work!" Clint pulled out three of the pens, passing them to everyone while grinning cheekily at his friend. Wanda found herself laughing as Tony made his name three times larger than everyone else's. Jane was working on an entire landscape, and when one of the pens was handed to her, she wrote a simple _Wanda 3._

When the bell rang, they stayed with Nat while she got up and attempted to grab her backpack. "Yeah, no." Clint took it from her, slinging it over his shoulder. Wanda didn't miss the small smile she gave him as they started walking - slowly - to her first class.

She was sitting in her usual seat in Ms. May's class, between Jane and Darcy and just behind Loki. Usually he left them alone, thankfully. Darcy sometimes opened her mouth to prod at him, though her goal was uncertain in Wanda's opinion. When she decided to talk to the raven-haired boy, she usually started with a normal conversation. "Hey, Loki, wassup?"

He would either turn to glare or ignore her completely. Today he chose the latter.

"C'mon, reindeer games." Darcy whined. "Talk to me, brotha."

"Don't call me names," he finally answered. "And I'm not your brother. I'm nobody's brother."

Darcy stuck her tongue out. "Yes, you are. Just like Jane and Wanda are my sisters."

Wanda felt appreciation flow through her as she was included in the sentiment. She'd been at school here for, what, a week? They had already adopted her into their circle.

Loki didn't answer, so Darcy kept whispering goofy nicknames at his back. This continued until Ms. May called the class to attention, holding a piece of paper in front of her. "We will be working on a project over the next two weeks. You will make whatever you wish to show us an endangered animal. Posters, slideshows, skits, etc are acceptable. If you have another idea, come see me. Now, get into partners that you'll work with on the project."

"Jane!" Tony yelled, even though they were only a few seats away.

"Yes, Mr. Stark. Thank you for announcing your partner to the entire class." Ms. May rolled her eyes.

Wanda had expected Jane to work with Darcy, since the two were nearly inseparable. But Jane smiled at him and went over to sit with the genius.

"Jane?!" Darcy looked offended. "We always work together!"

She gave a sheepish look, replying, "Sorry, Darce. I kinda owe him for fixing my laptop last week."

Darcy grumbled something, and Wanda was distracted from the exchange by a certain Bucky Barnes standing in front of her. "Want to be partners?" he asked.

She blinked twice, making sure he was really there. But he was, and he seemed genuinely interested in being her partner. "Sure," she said, and they went back to his seat at the back of the room.

After a few more minutes, everyone was paired up. Wanda started laughing after seeing who had ended up being the last two without partners.

"What is it?" Bucky, the partner she was suddenly very thankful for, asked her curiously. She pointed to a very disgruntled pair. Loki and Darcy sat next to each other a few seats to their right.

When he saw them, he started to chuckle. "Poor Darcy," he commented, but didn't seem very sorry.

"Poor Loki," Wanda added, seeing the look of misery on his face. "She's not gonna be fun to work with."

"Nope." Bucky agreed. He got up and went to the front of the room, retrieving a rubric. When he sat back down, they went over it.

"What animal do you want to do?"

He sat for a minute, looking at the list of examples on the back. "Polar bear, or red wolf?"

"Red wolf," she answered immediately.

"Okay, so…" They started working out the details of the project, using Wanda's phone to look up facts while Bucky jotted them down in his messy handwriting. She hoped he could read it, because she sure couldn't.

At lunch they were seated at their usual table in the cafeteria, located closest to the end of the line where there was always chocolate chip cookies. Technically there was only one cookie per student, but both Tony and Steve had mastered the way to get them extra. Tony sweet-talked the lunch ladies, flirting their pants off until they gave in. Steve's way, Wanda suspected, was much more humble. He refused to tell them what he said to get them by the rule, but it definitely worked. Who knew he could be so manipulative?

This lunch, everyone noticed that the usually talkative Pepper was flushed red, and playing with her ham sandwich.

"You alright, Pep?" Jane asked, ever the mom-friend.

"Yeah," she dismissed, but the airy note to her voice hinted that something was different.

"Spill it," Steve said, interested in the drama.

Wanda nodded, "You have to tell us."

Pepper turned redder when all eyes were on her. "Fine," she rolled her eyes, but actually seemed excited to get it off her chest. "Harry Osborne asked me out!"

Several squeals erupted from the table, which the entire cafeteria seemed used to, as nobody so much as flinched.

"What did you say?" Sam asked.

"Yes!" Pepper replied, excitedly.

"That's great!" Jane exclaimed.

As the girls excitedly discussed the upcoming date, Tony was silent. It wasn't until Darcy mentioned his coldness that the others saw it, too. "We talk about your dates all the time, Tony. Don't be hypocritical."

His eyes met Pepper, and he said, "I don't like that Harry guy."

"Why not?" Pepper asked.

"He's bad news. He thinks of girls as objects for his taking." he explained. He was being truthful; he'd met the guy a few times. However the jealous tone in his voice made him sound bitter.

Pepper detected it and got annoyed. "I don't need your permission, Tony." she spat, grabbing her bag and getting up.

"Pepper, where are you going?" he sighed. That wasn't how he meant it, but he really didn't want her going out with Osborne.

"Library," she said, without looking back.

The table was a little more quiet after that, but nobody followed Pepper. It was best to let her simmer down before talking to her. They chatted about anything else, before the bell rang and Wanda gathered her stuff for her next class.

After school, the girls stood by the locker rooms, looking at the list posted. Somehow, they'd all made it into Varsity!

"How is that even possible?" Jane asked skeptically. "We're just sophomores. How did we all get in?"

The others nodded in agreement, Wanda especially. She'd fallen on her face! Granted, Hela did trip her, but Ms. Hill didn't know that. Even if she hadn't they usually only accepted two or three sophomore players, if they were lucky.

"Ms. Hill," she ran up to the coach, who happened to be walking by. "Is this true? Are we all in Varsity?"

She nodded, as the other girls came over as well. "Yes, you all are. Individually you're JV material, but when you worked together, you dominated the field yesterday. I want that kind of teamwork on my Varsity team."

"No way!" Jane clapped her hands together. "Thank you so much! You won't regret this!"

"I'm sure I won't." Ms. Hill broke her usually indifferent facade to smile. "Practice is Wednesdays and Saturdays. Three-thirty and nine, respectively."

They were so excited, they could barely bring themselves to care that Hela had made Varsity, too.

 _Darcy_

 _She was walking home from Jane's place at nine. It was dark out, and she'd been celebrating with Pepper, Jane, and Wanda. They almost had Nat over, but didn't want to make her walk. Besides, bringing her to celebrate a sport that primarily involved kicking right now seemed a little thick-skulled._

 _As she turned a corner, some graffiti that hadn't been there earlier caught her eye. It was an octopus, which she recognized as a Hydra sign. She rolled her eyes. "Frickin Hydras. That's an octopus, not a hydra." Her obsession with Percy Jackson did have some uses - she knew that Hydra's had regenerating heads, not legs._

Idiots.

 _Her thoughts were cut off when she was roughly pushed into a wall, and held there by strong hands on her shoulders. It was a sketchy-looking guy, in a hoodie without pockets. You can never trust someone in a hoodie without pockets. "Hey, guys!" he called to his friends. "Look at her."_

 _She could see four pairs of eyes hungrily looking at her. Damn her curves. They all had tattoos on their forearms. It was the same sign she'd made fun of a minute ago._ Oh, shit. _They had probably heard that, too._

" _Let me go!" she demanded, proud of herself for how strong her voice came out. Her strength was undermined however by how much she was trembling. He could definitely feel it through his tight grip on her, and she tried to will her body to stop._

" _No," the guy said casually. She guessed he was at least eighteen, by his size and voice. Nobody from Marvel High, then._

 _He then kissed her roughly, and she panicked. She tried to kick him in the groin, but he slapped her before she made contact._

" _HELP!" she yelled, before a hand covered her mouth._

" _Shhh, it'll be over soon." he cooed, while his friend chuckled. His hands moved to her shirt, and…_

 _Suddenly he was on the ground, being kicked in the ribs. One of his friends tried to help him, but the assailant punched him in the jaw. He stopped, and the guy got off the ground and ran away with his goons._

" _Are you alright?" She found Loki's eyes searching hers worriedly. His hands were on her shoulders, this time a comfort and not a restriction._

" _Ye-yeah." she stuttered nervously, looking around._

" _They're gone," he said, not looking away from her. "Are you sure?"_

" _Yeah, thank you." She angrily scrubbed her hand against her lips, trying to get rid of the taste he'd left. She spit on the sidewalk for good measure._

 _He dropped his hands and stood silently for a moment. "Do you want to go home?" he asked._

" _Yeah," she said. She was suddenly aware of the fact that she was only in a T-shirt, and the only thing keeping her warm was the adrenaline that was wearing off._

 _He wordlessly took off his dark green jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She stuck her arms through the sleeves gratefully. "I'll walk you."_

 _They were quiet for a little, before her talkativeness began to return. "So… Not that I don't appreciate it, which I totally do, but why did you help me?"_

" _We were friends once, were we not?" he said, as if that answered everything, which it did not._

" _We could still be friends. If you just got off your high-ass horse and came back." she told him._

" _I do not belong."_

" _Yes, Loki, you do. Your dramatic ass just doesn't want to."_

 _He hesitated, before saying, "I'll start by just being friends with you. Alright?"_

" _Okay," she agreed. "So, want to hang out tomorrow after school, friend?"_

" _Yes. If anyone asks, we're working on the project."_

" _Agreed." Darcy felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment that he'd agreed to be her friend finally. She wasn't sure why she cared so much, but her mother always told her loyalty was her strength. Actually, that's what she'd been trying to accomplish by pestering him in the first place. She'd kind of lost sight of it for a while, but initially her attempts were in good heart._

 _They were at her house, finally. "Thank you, again." She didn't want to think about what would have happened had he not shown up when he did._

" _Any time," he said. "Be more careful, please." She handed him his jacket and smiled, before going inside._

 **Well! It seems like I'm just tormenting all of these characters, aren't I? If I haven't yet…. They'll get their turn. This is mostly a set-up chapter, except for the drama at the end. Did you guys like seeing Darcy's POV? Should I do other characters' POVs once in a while? All opinions are welcome! BTW don't assume ANYTHING about Loki...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! For all of the chapters so far I've had the days go by slowly (you see what happens every day), but now that Wanda's adjusted to life at Marvel High and with her new friends, I'll be picking up the pace a bit. There will be more gaps in time (not big ones, don't worry!). As you can imagine, reading about every single day will get boring after a while, and realistically not every day is interesting or action-packed. What do you guys think? Over the next few chapters, don't be afraid to tell me what you think of the pace. Also, I have big plans for this fic! It's going to be a long one, with lots of ups and downs, so fasten your seatbelts. :) I have plans through Senior Year, and maybe a college sequel if I haven't gotten sick of it yet lol.**

 **Responses to reviews will be at the bottom from now on.**

 **I love to hear your thoughts in the form of reviews!**

-Chapter 7-

"We should get together and work on the project soon. Ms. May doesn't give us nearly enough time in class." Bucky said, as they sat next to each other and began sketching out their poster.

"Agreed," she said. "Your place, tomorrow?"

He gave her a sidelong glance, which she tried not to read too far into. He knew where she lived; he knew why she didn't want it to be at her place. "Sure." He labelled where they wanted a picture of the species. "Eleven sound good?"

She hummed in agreement. She would have time to go home after soccer and change.

"Okay, do you know where I live?"

She didn't, actually. "Doesn't everyone just squat at Jane's?"

"Haha," he rolled his eyes. "It's on Freedom Lane. Go past Jane's and make a left."

She nodded, trying to mentally retain the information. "Got it."

* * *

Saturday morning she was in her room, picking clothes out of the chaotic pile she'd yet to organize. She wore a burgundy leather jacket over a black T-shirt and black skinny jeans. She also had on red vans. It was safe to say red was her favorite color, and she definitely had a bit of an aesthetic going; one Darcy loved to tease her about. She also brushed her long brown hair, and considered for the hundredth time getting red highlights, or the tips. Nah, that'd give a certain glasses-wearing girl too much ammo.

"Where are you going?" Pietro asked from the couch.

"I'm going to Bucky's." she answered. "We're working on our project."

She was almost out the door as her brother yelled, "No sex!"

"Shut up!"

The walk to his house was pretty straightforward, since he lived close to Jane's. Except when she got onto Freedom Drive, she realized he hadn't told her which house. "Great," she muttered. Would she have to knock on every door in the neighborhood? Her phone was at one percent, so it looked like that was her only option.

Or yell really loudly. Which was more embarrassing?

She started on the first house, in which resided an elderly lady.

"Hello, dear!" she said, excitedly. "I don't get visitors much! Would you like to come in? I have brownies!"

"Um, no thank you." she said. "Sorry to bother you, but-"

"I really like your accent! Is it German?" she interrupted, and Wanda wondered if she'd even heard her. A brownie was soon handed to her, anyways.

"Sokovian, actually." she corrected. The woman's guess was close; she had to give her props for that considering she hadn't actually comprehended _what_ had come out of her mouth.

"Are you selling girl scout cookies?"

"No, I-"

"I'll have four boxes of the Thin Mints. I like to freeze them and eat them cold." she said, with a happy smile.

Wanda smiled politely, and tried to raise her voice. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE BUCKY BARNES LIVES?"

The woman looked confused for a second, before smiling largely. "Oh!" She picked something up off the ground. "This is my cat, Barney. Would you like to pet him?"

She mentally facepalmed, giving up. "Hello, Barney." She stroked the calico's fur.

She said goodbye as politely as she could, and tried the next house. She chewed her brownie while waiting for the residents to answer. Thankfully, a familiar face opened the door. "Steve!" she said, relieved.

"Um, Wanda, hello." His brow furrowed. "Uh-"

"Bucky didn't tell me which house. We're supposed to be working on our biology project."

He looked at her, and then the brownie in her hand and started cracking up. When Steve laughed, he _really_ laughed. He doubled over, and put an arm across his chest and grabbed his peck as he cracked up. He was hysterical for a few seconds, before sobering up just enough to say, "I see you met Mrs. Heifer."

"And Barney," she added. This sent him into another fit of laughter, and she cracked a smile. "Can you tell me where he lives?"

"That house." He pointed to the one across the street.

"Thank you," she waved, and walked over to the large house where, hopefully, Bucky lived. If Steve sent her over to meet some other old lady, she'd kill him.

Wanda thanked the gods when Bucky opened the door with a smile. "Hey," he said, stepping aside to let her in.

"Hello," she said, debating whether to tell him about her embarrassing adventure. She figured if she didn't, Steve would. "You forgot to tell me which house, and long story short I met Mrs. Heifer."

He chuckled a little, with a "Sorry about that."

"Well, the brownie was good."

He nodded. "So, do you want to get working?"

"Yeah." They went into the living room, and Wanda found their poster and his laptop already set up on the coffee table.

"You have the rubric?" he asked.

She fished it out of her bag and looked around the house. He lived in a nice place; his parents were obviously well-off. Paintings lined the walls, but not too many that it seemed eclectic. They were sitting on an expensive-looking leather couch, and Wanda was leaning over the coffee table, trying to get the lettering perfect in pencil before she went over it with a calligraphy pen. "You're so extra," Bucky had rolled his eyes when she pulled the implement out of her bag. He, on the other hand, was leaned back with his legs on the couch doing research on his laptop.

They worked for a while, only exchanging simple questions like "How big do we want the title?" and "Is this a good picture?" It wasn't until an hour later that he started getting bored. She could tell when he started flipping his pencil in his fingers and no longer typing.

"Did you choose to wear red because you like red wolves, or did you pick red wolves because you like the color red?"

She shot him a quizzical look. "Um..." The hand that was shading in the block lettering saying 'FACTS' stopped. "Neither? I just like dogs, I guess."

He nodded. "Then what's with the outfit? Not that it's not cool."

She paused. It was sort of a complicated answer. Her and Pietro both tried to remember and honor their childhoods in Sokovia. The red, white, and blue flag is what they had mostly taken with them. She dressed mostly in reds, while he tended to wear more blues. "I guess I started wearing it because of the Sokovian Flag. My brother wears the blue."

"That's… way deeper than any answer I was expecting. That's really cool." he fiddled with a colored pencil. "What was it like over there? You don't have to tell me, of course."

Wanda dropped her pencil, now more invested in the conversation than the poster. "I don't mind. It was nice. It's a small country, but important. We used to say Sokovia was nowhere special, but it led to everywhere special."

"Why did you move?" he asked.

She shook her head at the memory. "There was a bomb. We were far enough away that we thought it was a little earthquake, but then the news came on, and my father decided enough was enough. We packed our stuff and came to America."

"Dang," he whistled lowly. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I never would have met you guys if we hadn't moved, so I'm glad we did." Her statement was truthful. Given the choice, she wouldn't go back now.

They talked for a while longer, the conversation getting much lighter after that. Eventually they realized that they wouldn't be getting any more work done today, and decided to call it a day. "See you Monday." she said on the way out.

* * *

She'd actually had a good weekend. Her father went to work on Saturday (sober, too). After her study session with Bucky, she hung out with Pietro for a bit. Then she finally got around to organizing her room. Sunday was filled with doing a whole lot of nothing; she'd slept in until eleven and then binged Netflix all day.

In biology on Monday, she was working with Bucky again. Ms. May had them not working on the project at the moment though, so they would have to get together outside of school soon.

Something strange, she'd noticed, was how the dynamic between Darcy and Loki had changed. She was still teasing him, of course, but he actually _smiled_ at one of her comments once. She could swear it was like they were being friendly or something.

Their group dynamic was somewhat screwed up, with tensions still high between Pepper and Tony. Pepper excitedly talked about her date with Harry later that afternoon, while Tony loudly explained to Sam why he and Jane would have the best biology project in the history of biology projects. Wanda mostly talked with Pepper, but occasionally she caught wind of the eccentric genius referring to manatees as "fat sea sausages" or "friendly hippos without legs." By the end of the day, they still hadn't made up, and Wanda grew concerned.

"Are Tony and Pepper going to be alright?" she asked Jane.

Jane looked at her and raised a brow. "Those two? They get into it all the time. I'm not worried, and you don't need to, either. They'll be fine by the end of the week."

She decided to believe her, and relaxed a bit.

School on Tuesday got off to a poor start, when Pepper arrived with red cheeks and a scowl. They all flocked to her, wanting to know what could get the strawberry-haired girl in such a mood.

"Harry stood me up, okay?" she responded to all of the prodding.

"What?" Nat asked, still on crutches.

"No, not okay!" Jane scowled. "I'll kill him."

"Can we just forget about it? It's embarrassing." Pepper was pleading.

Tony piped up, "I personally volunteer to beat him up."

This was the first thing they'd said to each other since their argument, and Pepper looked up at him shyly. "I might take you up on that offer."

Darcy cut in, disturbing their peace offering, and said, "He's an asshole and doesn't deserve you, Pep."

"You're too good for him." Jane confirmed.

"Thanks, guys," she said. "I just want to forget it ever happened."

"What happened?" Wanda feigned confusion, furrowing her brow. This was met with a thankful smile from Pepper, and not another word about You-Know-Who was spoken that day.

* * *

Tuesday night was their first soccer game of the season. They were all chatting excitedly in the locker rooms as they changed into their Varsity uniforms for the first time.

"We're going to crush it!" Jane exclaimed.

"You bet." Pepper said.

A raven-haired head popped out behind a row of lockers. "You three better not mess this up for me."

"Hela," Wanda rolled her eyes. "Sweet as always." This was met with a glare as the head disappeared.

Walking out on the field, it was nearing dark at six. The stadium lights were on, and the bleachers were surprisingly full for a soccer game, Wanda thought. At her old school, football had been the major sport.

Cheers erupted from one section of the bleachers, and she turned to see all of her friends had come to see them play. Darcy was waving around a sign that read 'BE MARVEL-OUS.' Thor cheered while holding a bag of caramel corn bigger than his head, and the others had seemed to already have located the snack stand and were holding hot dogs or burgers.

The game started off smoothly. Hela was actually on their team this time, so she was being helpful. Aside from being a major showoff and hogging the ball, of course. It didn't bug Wanda too much, though, because she was good and actually scored a few for them. Pepper made a goal of her own, and Wanda and Jane were excellent at stealing the ball right under Justice High's noses.

They won, and were awarded with a huge applause. As they left the field, they were swarmed by their friends.

"Awesome!" Bucky high-fived Wanda.

"The other team didn't know what hit them!" Darcy was ecstatic, all bitterness towards soccer seemingly gone. "Especially when Quinn got hit in the face!"

Wanda turned red; she hadn't meant to hit anyone, but Quinn had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"That was the best part." Tony confirmed.

"Good job, girls," Steve said. "My mom's here to pick me up. Sam, you want a ride? Bucky?"

Sam nodded readily, but Bucky waved him off. "I'm going to stay a while longer."

Some of the others left as well. Clint and Bruce got a ride with Nat's mother, and Thor started to walk home since he lived a few blocks away.

"Wanda!" She looked up, and instantly wished she was _anywhere_ else right now. _Shit._

"Papa," she said as he neared, and her remaining friends turned with interest.

"I came to give you a ride." His offer was generous, except for the fact that he reeked of alcohol. His walk was a drunken sway, too.

She lowered her voice and stepped closer. "Papa, that's not a good idea. You're drunk."

"'M fine!" he argued.

"No, I don't think-" she tried to reason with him, but he cut her off.

"Let's go, sweetie." The first part was almost a snarl, but her purred out her pet name in a way that made her hair stand on end. She could feel her friends' wary stares behind her.

Pepper spoke up, "Don't go with him. It's not safe."

"I said, 'Let's go.' Was I unclear?" Papa suddenly gained enough coherency to argue.

She started to walk with him, but Bucky's hand shot out to grab her arm, effectively stopping her in her tracks. "My mom can give you a ride home," he said quietly. "I don't want you getting in a car with him."

She didn't, either. "I-"

"Wanda!" Papa was getting irritated. "Get in or no more soccer."

She wasn't quite sure how those two things correlated; she hadn't _asked_ him to come. Still, she felt the need to obey. "I think I have to."

"Should we call someone? Should I tell Ms. Hill?" Jane looked around for the coach.

"No!" Wanda said quickly. She couldn't get her father in trouble. She had to cling to their little, broken family. "Please don't tell anyone."

The urgency in her voice carried over, because Jane relented with a disapproving sigh. "Okay, but where's your brother?" Pepper asked.

"He's at weight training tonight. He won't be home until a while later." She really wished Pietro were here right now. He'd know what to do. If he were here, he'd have already thought up a solution guaranteeing their safety and Papa's content.

"Fuck," Darcy tugged at her sleeves as the chilly air picked up. This made Wanda remember she was only in her soccer uniform, as she started to shiver.

"You have your phone?" Bucky gestured to her sports bag.

"Yes," she pulled the device out.

"Stay on the phone with us until you're safely at home. If anything goes wrong we'll call for help." He suggested.

She nodded, and dialed his number. He picked up and put it on speaker. "We'll be right here."

She thanked them, and nervously followed Papa to the parking lot. As she got in, she said into the phone, "Hello?"

" _We're here. You good?"_ Pepper's voice came through.

"Yes."

" _Are you driving yet?"_ This time it was Jane.

"We just pulled out." She watched his driving closely. Her father outwardly denied that he was ever drunk. That annoyed Wanda and her brother to no end. He couldn't even admit to his problem, so how was he going to get better?! There seemed to be a teensy, tiny part of his old self in the very back of his mind however, that told him otherwise. Wanda thanked that little bit of common sense for giving him the decency to drive slowly.

His steering was shaky, and they swerved a bit, but luckily as soon as they got to their part of town the roads were lifeless. He did hit a garbage can, and almost a cat, but eventually they pulled into the driveway. She was sure she scared her friends shitless every time she yelped or uttered a "Crap!"

"I'm home," she said into the phone.

Multiple sighs were heard from the other end. "Good. Call if you need anything." Bucky told her.

"Thank you. Goodnight." She hung up and followed her father into the house, locking the door behind them.

As she turned to go to her room for the night, she was shoved against a wall hard. The wind was knocked out of her for a second, preventing her from making any noise.

"You little bitch!" Papa hissed at her menacingly. He had his hands on her shoulders, pinning her to the wall. "You embarrassed me!"

She shrunk back at the look in his eyes. "I- I'm sorry."

Then, he did something she never thought he'd do. He raised a fist and drove it into her jaw forcefully. Her head smacked painfully against the wall, and she saw stars. Her jaw was already aching dully. "Papa?" she raised a tentative hand to touch her face, where she could already feel the heat and it beginning to swell.

He looked at his own hands, and a sobering look crossed his features for a second. This was quickly replaced with the former look of rage as he punched her in the stomach. He then turned and walked away.

She was left in the entryway, feeling dazed. Had that really just happened? She couldn't tell anybody, ever. Could she? This was turning worse, fast. He'd been drinking ever since Mama's death, but she didn't think he would stoop so low. She needed to tell someone. Then he could go into rehab or something and- No. She couldn't be separated from Pietro, and two siblings as old as them would never remain together in the foster system. It wasn't like they had any family in America to take them, either. She couldn't tell anybody.

After she had collected her emotions and managed to pick her sore body off the floor, she lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. What had happened to the carefree little girl living in Sokovia?

 **Reference: Can you guys guess who Quinn is?**

 **Yikes… I feel bad for putting Wanda through this!**

 **Bella: Thank you, and I'm working on it!**

 **Amora: Yes! I've seen the memes, and they make me laugh every time (okay, maybe I am a bit biased towards memes having to do with Marvel, but still…). Pepperony is amazing, and it's the big reason why I don't ship the always-popular Stony. I considered them for this story, but then I thought of Pepper and, ya. "The Guy of Lies" as we will call him is definitely going to be a confusing one… Sometimes I'll be writing him, and have to backspace because "No, he'd going to act THIS way."**

 **I'm glad you noticed his odd entrance to the Avengers! I feel like Thanos was controlling him. What do you think is going down with them two in Infinity War? I've seen so many theories after the conflicting footage in the trailer. I've actually seen a lot (with evidence I won't list right now) having to do with his redemption. For example, he's handing it over so Thanos doesn't kill Thor. Ugh the wait is killing me but I also might not want to know lol. Does Loki ever get enough screen time? Then again, there could be a three hour documentary on him and I still wouldn't get enough. I'll have to watch it, and see if I can work Amora in somewhere… Thanks for the review! Always a pleasure :)**

 **Tristana702: Lol Jane's story will come, don't you worry… Like I said before, you can't really expect anything from Loki right now… He might be good, he might be bad. Sorry, but no spoilers on it for the moment!**

 **ClarinetNation: Thank you! I'm so happy you have notifications for this fic! It really makes my day when people like this. I found the mistake and it bugged me so much that I fixed it lol.**

 **Thewritevoice: I'm glad you're into this! We'll just have to kick back and see, won't we?**

 **MaximoffFangirl: HAHA maybe the song will continue for them, who knows? Oh, me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Aloha! I saw Maze Runner a second time, and I loved it! I still have so many unanswered questions; I know there are only three books in the trilogy, but I feel like they need a fourth movie! [SPOILER IN THIS SENTENCE] I have an excellent (in my opinion) theory involving Newt being alive, which I would** _ **really**_ **like to see. Let me know if you want to hear it! Should I do a Maze Runner fanfic soon? Please give me some ideas!**

-Chapter 8-

Wanda woke up more slowly than she normally did. Of course she was far from being a morning person. On a typical day, she could simply roll out of bed and go through the motions of getting ready. Today, however, a weight seemed to anchor her to the mattress. She bit back a groan, as her fingers gingerly touched the sore spot on her jaw. There was also a dull ache in her stomach.

Oh, right. Her father had hit her last night after the game. Her own father had beaten her. Does it have to be multiple hits to go from it being called being hit to being beaten? She shrugged the question away, deciding it a little too morbid even for her dark sense of humor.

"Wanda! You want to walk to school?" Pietro called through her door. "I'm leaving in fifteen."

 _Oops._ She definitely overslept. "I'll walk with Bruce!" Her friend was usually a bit later than rise-and-shine Pietro.

"Alright," he said back, his footsteps getting quieter. She put on a black skirt and a red top, braiding her hair over-the-shoulder. It was warm in early October around here.

The real problem appeared when she looked in her bathroom mirror. Sitting on her jaw for all to see was a big, ugly purple bruise. _Fudge._

She had to cover this up. Her friends were already wary of her father after seeing him drunk, and now this. She scrambled for her makeup bag, pulling out her concealer, foundation, and a color-correcting palette. Thank goodness her mother left behind so much stuff.

She worked up until she knew she would have to go. It was decidedly good enough. The only problem was that to cover the darkest parts, she really had to cake it on. As long as she didn't touch her face or sweat too much, she would be fine. Thankfully PE wasn't in her schedule today.

The walk to school with Bruce was quiet, so either nobody had told him about last night's incidents or he had enough daddy issues of his own to fret on hers. She prayed for the first one, but doubted it. She hadn't sworn anyone to secrecy, and they were a pretty tight-knit group.

When she got to school, she got a few weird looks from them. Tony, who usually teased her about something or other, instead gave her an understanding smile. She pretended not to see it.

Bucky cornered her between classes, asking "Everything go well last night after we hung up?"

"Yes." The lie left a bitter taste on her tongue, and her bruise seemed to start throbbing. She hoped it wasn't showing; a trip to the bathroom mirror was needed in the immediate future.

"Good." So, he hadn't seen the bruise. _Whew._

* * *

It wasn't until lunch that everyone forgot about her problems. Pepper sat down, looking confused. What was it with this girl arriving in funky moods?

"What is it?" Darcy pried.

Pepper only furrowed her brow harder. "Harry just talked to me." Wanda swore Tony looked about ready to jump out of his seat. The way he gripped his fork and his eyes hungrily searched the room meant business. Pepper picked up on it, and said, "Sit, Tony."

"I'm not a dog, Pep. I do what I want!" Nonetheless, he stayed seated.

"What did he want to talk about?" Jane pretended not to hear the whiny boy.

Wanda's eyes watched Pepper as she sheepishly played with her chicken pot pie. "He said he had had a family emergency, and had to bail. But he lost my phone number and couldn't contact me."

"I've heard that line before." Darcy rolled her eyes, continuing to eat. At everyone's eyes on her, she put her fork down. "What? It's happened."

"Darce, when's the last time you've even been on a date?" Jane asked her friend.

"Exactly," Darcy said, like it explained everything.

"Okay…" The exchange left Wanda feeling confused. She wasn't sure if it was meant to be funny, or self-deprecating, or both. "Anyways, what did you say?"

Pepper muttered something incoherent.

"What was that?" Steve asked.

"I said, 'I gave him another chance.'" She repeated this louder, and with more certainty. Her eyes stayed down so she wouldn't see the jaws dropping.

Natasha, not usually one to weigh in on girlier matters, said, "Pepper, this guy stood you up."

"He doesn't deserve you!" Tony had finally gotten his mouth to work. He looked appalled that Osborne would dare talk to her, let alone her agree.

"What if he really did have a reason for not coming?" she argued.

Darcy snorted. "Yeah, like not wanting to go out with you."

"DARCY!" Jane smacked her friend on the shoulder.

Wanda felt like voicing her opinion, but Bucky beat her to the point she would've made. "Pepper, you can do whatever you want. But we will always be there to beat him up if he wrongs you again."

Pepper smiled gratefully. "See, someone isn't trying to tell me what I can and can't do."

Natasha muttered something under her breath and Tony grumbled, but they switched topics to something else.

* * *

Classes had ended, and she was in the middle of walking off campus when she heard a, "Hey Scarlet!" Wanda turned, hearing Bucky's voice behind her. Who was he talking to?

He caught up, and said, "We should work on our project more today after school. You free?" Her, he was talking to her.

She held her hand up, rewinding the conversation. "Did you just call me Scarlet?"

"Yes."

"Why?" She'd never been nicknamed before, and if she had, she didn't want it to be something as lame as a _color._

"You always wear red." He shrugged as if it were obvious. It was, she realized sheepishly.

"Was that the best you could come up with?"

"Ouch," he feigned hurt as they continued walking. "You're mean. Mean Scarlet." He tapped his chin for a second, before announcing, "Scarlet Witch!"

That was… cooler. Not that she was going to tell him that. "You know, a Scarlet Woman is a prostitute." She laughed at the look on his face.

He frowned. "Well… I'm still changing your contact in my phone to it, so deal." She rolled her eyes. "Your place this time?"

"No," she answered too quickly, and he looked at her weirdly. "I mean, uh. It's just-"

"You don't have to be embarrassed of your place. I know you live in the shadier parts," he offered gently.

"I'd just rather not be home right now."

He stopped her, them standing in the entrance to the school. "If something else were happening at home besides your father's drinking you'd tell us, right?"

She opened her mouth and shut it again, probably looking like a guppy. "Of course," she lied straight through her teeth, feeling disgusted with herself. There was so many reasons she should tell them… But more why she shouldn't.

"Good." He was satisfied with her answer, and they turned to walk in the direction of his house.

They had actually been really productive. After getting some banter and deep conversations out during their walk, he stopped asking profound and philosophical questions as they worked.

The poster was looking really good. Bucky said they were practically done, but Wanda's eye caught some things that needed fixing still. They should add a few more pictures, and a colorful duct tape border… She really had wanted to redo the entire facts section, but Bucky had stolen her white-out and held it out of reach. "It's fine!" he kept repeating.

After they decided to wrap it up, he offered to walk her home. She gratefully accepted, not wanting to walk around alone when the sun was setting.

* * *

Leslie Knope was happily talking to her through the TV, while she munched on goldfish. The door opened and shut, signalling Pietro's arrival. The football team was hardcore; he stayed after school every day and most mornings. At least it got him out of this hell-hole.

"Hey," he said, pouring himself some of the orange crackers and sitting next to her. "What are we watching?"

"Parks and Recreation," she answered, not taking her eyes off the TV. This had been her favorite show back in New York, and she thanked god Papa had forgotten to end their Netflix subscription. It was probably money they needed to save, but it was going towards Netflix or his beer. Really, she was doing him a favor.

"What did you do today?"

She sighed. "School. Then I went to Bucky's to work on our project."

"You and this James kid spend a lot of time together now. Is there something going on between you two?" He eyed her suspiciously, his over-protectiveness showing.

"I've been to his place twice! We've been doing our project on Red Wolves. We're just friends. He's in the group."

Pietro nodded slowly, not sure if he believed her. She rolled her eyes, not caring whether he did or not.

"How was football?" She changed the subject.

"Ugh," he groaned, flopping back against the couch. "Since Rhodey became captain he's been working us to death!"

"Join track instead," she suggested, knowing he had always been a fast runner. He'd already set his mile time as a school record.

"It's not track season. And Rhodey is my best friend; I can't quit."

"Oh, woe is you." Seriously, these were his problems?

"Hey, what's that bruise?" The change of topic caught her off-guard, and she froze as he lightly poked her face, making her wince. She should've touched it up before he got home, or gone to her room, but no. Now she had to think up a lie convincing enough for her twin.

"What bruise?" She feigned oblivion, but knew it would never work. It could buy her time, though.

"Right here. I know you saw it; you took the time to cover it with makeup. Did someone hit you?"

"No!" She scrambled for an answer. He looked angry at just the thought of someone hitting her; she didn't want to imagine what he would look like if he knew it was Papa. "I fell on the stairs."

"You fell. On the stairs." He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"We don't have stairs."

 _Crap._ "The ones at the school." _Nice save._

He had a dubious expression. "Then why did you cover it up?"

"It's ugly, okay? Just leave it." He thankfully dropped the subject for the rest of the night.

* * *

Two days later, her bruise hadn't gotten much better. It was still very prominent against her pale complexion, but she was learning to cover it with makeup well. She iced it before she fell asleep so the swelling wasn't too bad in the morning, and she could see the edges beginning to fade to a sickly yellow. Papa had also been avoiding her since the incident. At least he had some decency. Pietro undoubtedly noticed the tensions in their home, but she guessed he'd chalked it up to her bitterness towards the forced move.

She didn't mind the move anymore. The friends she'd met here in the past few weeks were better than any others she'd known. She was actually happy that they left the crowded city.

She was sitting in Jane's room, as she often did, with Nat, Jane, Darcy, and Pepper. The difference, was that this time they were playing her Wii. Mario Kart, to be more specific.

"How was your date, Pepper?" Wanda asked as she turned a sharp corner. She was playing as Yoshi.

Pepper blushed, and obviously got distracted as she ran off the road. " _Damn,"_ she whispered. "It was amazing! Harry was so sweet!"

"He showed up?" Darcy asked.

"Yes! He brought me flowers, even. Who does that anymore? He apologized again for missing the last one, and he took me to see a movie…" Wanda couldn't see the strawberry-haired girls' face, but she knew it held a dreamy expression. "Then we went to dinner at a fancy Italian place."

"That sounds amazing!" Jane gushed. "I'm so happy for you, Pepper!"

"It was." Pepper agreed.

"Sure, gush about your boyfriend while we're all over here single." Darcy was rolling her eyes.

"I'm happy for you, Pep." Wanda smiled. She was; she didn't need a boyfriend right now. Her life was complicated enough.

"Do you guys want to hit the burger place down the street?" Jane asked as the race finished.

Darcy, the unsurprising champion, answered, "I've actually got to go meet someone."

"Who?" Jane asked.

Darcy smiled as she stood, stretching. "That's for me to know and you to… not know."

Wanda snorted at the ending, her friend having forgotten the expression. "Alright, well- Wanda, Pepper?" Jane looked at them both.

"Sure," Wanda said, and Pepper nodded.

Everything had been going well for the group, Wanda noticed. She hadn't had another incident with her father, Pietro was excelling in football, soccer practices had gone smoothly, Hela hadn't messed with them in a bit, and Pepper was still gushing about her awesome date with Harry. Even Darcy seemed happier, but she had a strong suspicion that that had to do with wherever she was sneaking off to all the time. Or rather, who. It was nearly too good to be true until things went crashing down, as they tend to do.

* * *

 _Darcy's POV_

 _Whoever decided water fountains were a good idea was an idiot. At least, that was what a certain Darcy Lewis was thinking as Steve accidentally squirted it at her shirt. Now her, Steve, and Sam were walking to their next class. Her and her wet shirt._

 _She perked up as she saw a familiar raven-haired boy passing in the other direction, and she flicked her wrist. He saw her, and flicked his own. That was their signal. She'd always wanted a signal! She had asked Jane once, but she'd said no. "Can't we just say hello like normal people?"_

 _Surprisingly, cold-as-ice Loki had gone for it. Maybe she'd melted through his icy exterior, she thought with a laugh. No, he'd still been colder than he used to be; not that he was ever very outgoing. But he did seem to be softening up._

" _What's so funny?" Steve asked._

" _Nothing," she said._

" _You know what's not funny?" Sam had frozen in his tracks, and pointed to something down the hall. "That."_

 _Her gaze moved to where he was pointing, and she froze as well. Right in the middle of the hallway, was Hela. And she was in total lip-lock with Harry Osborne._

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUN… I know I did Darcy's POV last time too, but I felt like she needed to be in this scene. I wanted to start the next chapter with "Freeze frame. You're probably wondering how I got here…" but physically restrained myself.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **WildestDreams72394: Can you tell I suck at sports? Lol. Thought that would have been pretty clear from my horrible descriptions of soccer matches! Thanks for the tip; I do try to be accurate. Then again, I had a debilitating childhood fear of frisbees after failing to catch one and getting cut really badly… I guess the level of injury sustained varies from person to person. Trust me, I'm pretty OCD about little mistakes, too. I'm glad you're liking this so far! We'll just have to see about his reaction, won't we? It will come soon enough…**

 **Kittyjune26: Of course! All ideas are welcome here. Seriously, I have to write their whole high school experience; I need inspiration! I'm glad you are liking this! You guys make my day!**

 **Amora: I feel bad for Wanda, but WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP. You always have the nicest things to say! Trust me, you're not annoying at all 3. Your reviews are always so much fun to read. It's just like talking to one of my friends! (Except I have social anxiety, so this is actually better lol. No face-to-face!). Mrs. Heifer may have to be a recurring character, because her antics are really fun to write. I hope you have fun with your grandma! One of my grandmas died before I was born, and another is crazy, so we gave the title of grandma to my great aunt haha. Thanks; I was worried when I started about how I was going to write Wanda and Bucky (which I think is called WinterWitch, but Bucda is better than Wucky or Banda, and Wacky is terrible). Yeah, Loki's definitely going to be an interesting one in IW, but he probably won't get the screen-time to explore it. One can hope, though!**

 **Thewritevoice: I can supply the torches!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey! Go check out WildestDreams72394's new Avengers fanfic, Gasoline! I'm loving it so far! She really nails Bucky's character. She's also inspiring me to write longer chapters, so you have her to thank for that. :) Not really with this one, but the next ones for sure.**

-Chapter 9-

"We'll be fine." Darcy assured Wanda. "Steve is Coulson's favorite, and he takes care of most things like this." _That's so comforting,_ Wanda thought sarcastically.

"Yeah, it's Principal Fury you don't want to get on the wrong side of." Tony confirmed.

Wanda smiled uneasily. She could guess that Tony had gotten on Fury's bad side on multiple occasions.

They were sitting in the Vice Principal's office and waiting for him to arrive. All of the group was, actually. Wanda looked around, admiring the potted plant in the corner and signed, limited edition baseball cards not-so-subtly displayed on the desk. Bruce was fidgeting in his seat, even though he hadn't had much to do with the ordeal. Pepper, Wanda, Tony, and Steve were seated in the available chairs, while the others stood or leaned against the walls. Aside from Darcy, who lazily spun in Coulson's swivel chair.

"Darcy, stop. He's not going to like that." Jane cautioned.

"Nah, Phil's fine. It's Fury you gotta worry about." Darcy switched directions to make her head spin. Tony and Thor's heads momentarily blended to form Nick Cage, making her giggle.

"Darcy, how are you high off spinning?" Bruce asked, speaking up for the first time since they'd gotten in here.

Jane rolled her eyes, ignoring the current conversation. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. I can't believe you!"

Tony chewed his gum, "I don't regret it."

"Neither do I," said Pepper.

Darcy nodded. "For once, I didn't do it. But hell hath no fury like Pepper scorned, am I right?"

Wanda smiled, drumming her fingers on the desk. There was no way he could suspend, or _expel,_ all of them. Could he? As long as that didn't happen, Papa would never have to know. She could easily forge his signature on any note they sent home - his drunken scribble was easy to replicate.

"I hope I get suspended." Tony mused. "Just me and the flat-screen in my room."

"That'll go on your permanent record." Jane reminded him bitterly. She would always stick by her friends, but a tick on her name wasn't exactly something she wanted.

"So?" He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Say, 'busted!'"

"How are we busted?" Sam joined in, "It was a fight in the middle of a crowded hallway."

"And this better not be going on your snapchat story!" Pepper scolded.

"Too late."

They boredly bantered back and forth for a while, while most of the room's occupants half-listened to the conversation. In her own world, Wanda let herself wonder what her friends were doing back in New York. _Probably not sitting in the office awaiting punishment with ten of their closest friends_ , she thought proudly. Okay, maybe the awaiting punishment part wasn't something to be proud of, but it was still a semi-fun experience. Only _they_ could make sitting in an school official's office an experience… Her other friends had been primarily concerned with cuticle care and touching up their mascara, so the difference in interests here had been welcomed with open arms.

Her old friends had also been all-for-one, glass-half-empty type people. They weren't genuine, and their loyalties wavered. The new group dynamic she'd been immersed in felt much better.

"Darcy, out of my chair." The vice principal's voice said as he opened the door. His tone held a little amusement, but the teen listened.

"Yes, sir." She stood up, leaning against his desk instead. Wanda silently thanked god that she hadn't called him 'Phil,' what with the casualty she showed towards him. One might think she was talking to an uncle.

He took off his glasses as he sat down, looking them each in the eye. Wanda would have expected a vice principal to look more worn out, weariness lining their eyes and tired of being a babysitter to teenagers all day long. Coulson, however, always had a twinkle behind his eye. He seemed like he actually enjoyed his job, something Wanda couldn't fathom about working in a school. He gave them a grim smile. "You all know why you're here."

* * *

 _EARLIER THAT DAY_

"Our presentation is going to be the best." Tony boasted.

"What, are we all getting field trips to Florida to see the manatees?" Wanda rolled her eyes. The genius always had to be bragging about something.

Tony stuck his tongue out childishly. "Ha ha, I wanted to rent one and bring it in, but the sanctuary had a few problems with that." Even though he was clearly kidding (probably), she had no doubt his and Jane's presentation would be something special. That could either be good or bad. Thankfully, Jane could handle damage control.

"Pepper!" Darcy called out, fleeing down the hall. Steve and Sam were hot on her heels. "Pepper, I need to talk to you!" Wanda turned to look, as did every other head in the hallway. Most of their group was there, with Jane rolling her eyes at the loud entrance.

"What is it, Darce?" Her exasperated friend asked.

Such antics were expected from Darcy, like when she'd seen a cute squirrel outside or she'd bumped into a guy and immediately fell in love because "It was fate! I'm telling you!" For the normally calmer Sam and Steve to be just as frantic as her, however, was unusual.

"I saw- I saw," She was too out of breath to speak, and held up a finger to signal 'one second.'

Pepper looked to the equally out-of-breath Sam, and Steve who seemed to be nearly wheezing.

"Easy, little Stevie," Bucky cautioned. Wanda watched him regain his breath slower than the others. The list of ailments the smaller boy had was extensive, asthma being one of them, and Bucky being his longest childhood friend was always watching out for him like an older sibling.

The group waited. Wanda offered Darcy her water bottle, which she drank greedily. Where had they run from? Eventually, she was able to make out, "I saw Hela kissing Harry."

Pepper's face fell. "What?"

Darcy whipped out her phone and pulled up the picture she'd taken. When the screen got closer, Wanda could easily make out Harry Osborne kissing a raven-haired girl.

"M-maybe it's not her." Pepper stuttered.

"Who else has that hair? Loki? It doesn't matter, anyways. He's cheating." Tony started purposefully walking down the direction Darcy came, the rest of the group trailing after him.

"Tony, please," Pepper begged, a hand on his arm.

"I'm helping," Sam volunteered, cracking his knuckles. He seemed to have recovered from the sprint.

"No, guys, stop," Jane interjected, seeing where this was going. "Wanda and I will go with Pepper to talk to him. This doesn't have to get violent."

"Yes, it does." Steve was never one to back down from a fight. He really should, though.

Wanda grabbed Bucky's arm. "This is a bad idea."

"I know. But we can't let him get away with it, can we?"

Wanda's eyes flashed to Pepper trying to slow Tony down, but behind the pleading to stop was a fire in her eyes she had only seen after Hela had tripped her in soccer tryouts. "I think she can handle herself."

Bucky looked over to her, then back at Wanda and unclenched his fists. "I know. I just have to make sure it doesn't get too out of hand."

"It's already out of hand!" Wanda snapped. "You're all heading over to beat a guy up!" _Ugh._ Why couldn't they just stop? Bruce wasn't jumping at the chance to fight, and neither was she. There were other ways to get revenge.

She coughed loudly, and the group finally stopped. "Hey! We can't go all beat someone up. We could get in trouble, especially since it would be all of us against one of him. Let Pepper fight her own battles. If she wants help, she'd ask."

"Thank you!" Jane said. "We'll let Pepper talk to him. We can just be backup."

Wanda and the others trailed a little ways behind Pepper, as she located the unfortunate soul who dared cross Pepper Potts. "Harry!" she shouted.

He turned, and smiled goofily at her. "Pepper! How are you? When's our next date? I had so much fun on the last one." He seemed unknowing that he'd been caught in the act, with photographic evidence.

"I know you kissed Hela." She cut off his attempt at conversation with a scowl.

His mouth fell to an 'o.' "Listen, Pep- She kissed me."

"Yeah, right?" Thankfully, the strawberry-haired girl wasn't dumb enough to fall for the facade.

"You think I would do that?" He asked. He continued at her shrug. "Look, I know I stood you up, but I told you my aunt was in a car accident and-"

Pepper made a hissing sound that made Wanda's hair stand on end. "You told me it was your _cousin."_

Harry's eyes widened as he realized his mistake, and Wanda almost felt bad for him. Until she remembered he was a cheating douche. "I meant-"

"You lied to me." Pepper looked murderous, and she vowed to never get on the receiving end of that fiery glare. "You stood me up, lied about it, and when I gave you another chance you cheated!"

Every head in the crowded hall had turned, thoughts of getting to class long forgotten as they watched the drama unfold with hungry eyes. Wanda desperately hoped that they were thinking of Harry as the jerk, and not viewing Pepper as some crazed ex-girlfriend. She realized that it wasn't really a concern however, as Pepper was liked by pretty much everyone. She had a level head on her shoulders and they all knew it.

Harry looked angry now, too. He glanced at all of the eyes trained on him, probably worried about what she was doing to his cool guy image. His brows drew together as he snidely asked, "You little- you really thought I would go out with someone like you?"

Pepper's hand flew to her mouth as she stood, stunned he would say something so terrible. Wanda stepped forward as she saw tears forming in her friend's eyes. However, someone had already beaten her there. Tony had slipped around her and Jane to punch Harry forcefully in the jaw.

"What the hell?" Harry demanded as he stretched his jaw. Wanda winced, recalling what it felt like when Papa had struck her. It was not a pleasant feeling, that was for sure. All sympathies towards him were extinguished when he raised a fist, ready to punch Tony right back. She had no doubt her friend could protect himself, but he never got the chance to.

"Stop!" Pepper yelled, jumping between them and quickly kneeing Osborne where it hurt.

"Oof," came from several people, mainly onlooking guys wincing in sympathy as Harry doubled over and his knees hit the floor.

 _Tony's POV_

 _He was watching impatiently with the others, straining his ears to hear the conversation. After a few seconds, however, it got loud enough he could hear it with ease. The fact that Osborne'd lied about standing her up hadn't come as a surprise; he'd never liked Osborne. From the time they were in seventh grade, he'd seemed to make it his personal mission to go on a "conquest," dating every girl in school. It had only escalated when he got to high school._

 _Tony knew all of this because he was also considered a player by many, even though he'd only had two dates this year: Jessica Jones and a girl from Justice High he'd already forgotten the name of. He wasn't on a mission to date as many girls as possible. He just met a girl, and then couldn't keep his attention on her for very long. He just wasn't ready for a big commitment yet, and the girls he dated knew that going into it._

 _Harry, however, was a different kind of player. He viewed it as a sport. He lured in unsuspecting girls like Pepper, acted all sweet, got in their pants and dumped them._

 _He never would have let him get that far with Pepper, and she surely wouldn't have gone for the last bit either, but he had to wait for her to see him for who he really was. If it had gone further, he would have stopped it. He'd had a few girlfriends who had had bad experiences with Osborne, and while most of them weren't as keen on Tony anymore, they would gladly advocate for themselves to help Pepper._

 _When he heard the insulting things the jerk had to say to one of his best friends, he snapped. He shouldered past the brigade Wanda, Pepper, and Steve had made in hopes of subduing him in particular. It wasn't a very effective wall, especially since none of them were paying attention and one of them was Steve. Before he knew what he was doing, his fist was driving into Osborne's jaw full-force._

 _He was prepared to be on the defense when the shortly-dazed boy raised his fist back at him, but suddenly Pepper was between them and with a swift motion from her leg, Osborne was sinking to the ground in agony._

" _Nice shot, Pep." He whistled lowly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"_

 _He knew her well enough to know she was lying when she nodded shakily, but her slight vengeful smirk led him to believe that she would be just fine._

" _STARK! POTTS! My office right now!" Vice Principal Coulson's voice boomed out over the murmuring of bystanders. "The rest of you!" He waved over at the others in their group. "My office as well. Osborne, the nurse and then come see me." He turned and stalked away._

" _Uh oh," he watched Coulson stride off with his all-business look about him. They were in for it._

* * *

 _PRESENT TIME_

"So, anyone care to tell me what happened?" Coulson began, opening up a pad to take notes.

Pepper started, "Tony was just defending me. I got into an argument with Harry and it started going south." The others nodded in agreement.

"Start from earlier." Coulson rewound the narrative. "Why were you guys in confrontation?"

"I was dating Harry, and my friends saw him kissing another girl." Pepper confessed, her eyes down.

"I have the picture as proof!" Darcy whipped out her phone.

Coulson shook his head. "I don't need to see it; thank you, Darcy."

Pepper raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Okay, well that was why we were arguing."

Coulson nodded, his pencil jotting down the first note while he somehow kept eye contact with them. "Did Osborne threaten you, or act like he was going to physically harm you in any way?"

"Well, no-" Pepper's mouth fell open and closed.

"So why did Stark feel the need to assault Mr. Osborne?"

 _Because he's an ass,_ Wanda wanted to state, but knew it would get them nowhere. She could have a sharp tongue at times, but it was kept in check mostly by her common sense not to speak. Thankfully, Tony had a more tactful approach. "He was getting angry. He may not have explicity threatened her, but I worried he might get physical soon."

Coulson nodded, obviously not ready for such a reasonable answer from the rebellious playboy. "That's fair enough. Then Ms. Potts, why did you knee him… there." She held back a snort as the older man almost smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards as he asked the question.

Pepper coughed, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "He was ready to strike back, so I stopped him."

"You didn't think there was a better way to do that?"

"I'm sure there was," she answered quickly. "It was just all I could think of in the moment."

" _It was certainly effective_ ," Bucky muttered quietly from behind her, an approving lilt to his tone.

"The rest of you," he eyed the rest of the group. "I don't know why I even ask, but does their story check out with you?"

"Yes, sir," Wanda said as the others hummed or nodded in agreement.

"That figures," he wrote something down. "Well, we do have to take action since this school has a zero-tolerance policy for violence. Tony and Pepper, you two will be getting two days' in-school suspension. Because I know spending two days in Stark mansion isn't much of a punishment, right?"

"Yes, sir," Pepper agreed.

"The rest of you will get a phone call home, for being bystanders of the situation and I'm positive you would have joined in had it not been broken up when it was. Fair enough?" Coulson was writing the names of the rest of them on a piece of paper.

"That's fair," Jane smiled. "Thank you."

Wanda, however, felt her stomach turning. She didn't want Papa to get a call about this. He had specifically asked her before they moved to make this transition easy, and that meant being a good student in her new school. He wouldn't appreciate the vice principal calling about her bad behavior, not that she'd had a big part of this. She'd tried to stop it, even.

Before she could change her mind, she spoke up, "Sir? I had nothing to do with this. I tried to stop them before it ever escalated." Every pair of eyes was on her, with a stunned expression.

"Wanda, just take it. We're not being punished." Steve put a hand on her arm.

Coulson shook his head. He clearly didn't expect one of them to object, especially since he'd barely doled out anything harsh. Ms. Maximoff wasn't even one of the ones suspended! "My decision stands. I can't let some of you off but not others. Even if you tried to stop it, you stood around and watched it happen. If you didn't want any part you should have walked away, or better yet come find me. You guys are dismissed. Head to your last classes."

"Bye, Phil!" Darcy called out as they left the office, no longer able to resist.

Coulson simply shook his head, clearly used to this. "Goodbye, Darcy."

"No, no," Tony objected. "His first name is 'Vice Principal.'"

* * *

As they were walking down the hall, Darcy turned to Wanda with a furrowed brow. "Way to throw us under the bus."

She immediately felt guilty, realizing that that's how she must have come off. "I didn't mean it like that…"

"Then how did you mean it?" Darcy dared her.

"Darce, it's fine. She was sticking up for herself. She really didn't have a part in this." Jane interjected.

"Neither did I!" Darcy exclaimed. "Neither did Bruce, or Steve, or you, or anyone else! Tony and Pepper were just defending each other; she should have stuck up for all of us, not just herself."

"Guys-" Wanda began, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

Tony shot her an apologetic look. "It did kind of come off that way, Wanda."

"I just-" She felt frustrated tears well up, and her dam would break soon if she wasn't careful. She had made more amazing friends in the past few weeks than she'd had in her entire life, and now she'd gone and ruined it.

"Leave her alone. No harm was done." Bucky tried to ease the tension.

Darcy wasn't ready to give up just yet. "No! There was harm done. Now we know how she would react if we were all really in trouble. She's all about being our friend, until something happens and it's everyone for themselves. Is that how friendships work back in New York, Wanda? Well that's not how it is here."

Wanda turned and ran the other way, pretending not to care as no one came after her. She didn't care that she was no longer going in the direction of her class; Papa was already going to be pissed with her. What difference did it make if she ditched? There was no way she could go to her next class with her friends (were they still her friends?) anyways.

Instead, she walked all the way off campus, down to the river, and attempted to skip rocks until school was dismissed so she could walk home.

* * *

 _Jane's POV_

 _Wanda hadn't ever gotten to their class after running off, and she wasn't in the locker rooms preparing for soccer practice, either. She'd taken her time putting on her shin guards and tying her shoes, but by the time she'd gotten out to the field, she had accepted that maybe she wasn't going to come back at all today. She pulled out her phone before Coach Hill arrived, sending a quick text reading "_ Hey! You okay? Don't worry about Darcy; she's already over it. We want you to come back!"

 _She turned her phone off so it wouldn't go off during practice, but prayed that there would be a text when she turned it back on in a few hours. She jogged over to Darcy to catch up for warm-ups._

" _No word from Wanda?" Darcy asked guiltily._

" _Nothing so far. Don't feel bad. It's not your fault." Jane soothed with a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Today was tense for everyone." Darcy was an exceptionally loyal person. In the fifth grade, Jane had gotten in trouble for turning in a homework assignment late and Darcy had insisted to the teacher that it was her own fault. The logic behind that was a bit shaky, but Jane was so grateful to her friend for trying to keep her record clean. Just because she held loyalty above all else, though, didn't mean that she could fault others for not doing the same. Wanda hadn't done anything_ that _wrong. Sure, if they had all gotten suspended and she had done that, then she would have had a problem with it._

" _But I should have known." Darcy shook her head._

" _Known what?" Jane cocked her head._

" _We know she has problems with her father. What if he would have gone crazy and grounded her for like, ever? She probably had reasons for not wanting him to know."_

 _Jane nodded. "I think you were right to feel betrayed, but Wanda probably did have her reasons, and I bet that if it were something worse than a mere call home she would have had all of our backs."_

" _I know," Darcy said. "I hope she's not mad."_

" _We'll all be fine," Jane seemed unfazed by most of this. "It's a little different because Wanda's new, but we've all gotten in our fights before, haven't we?"_

" _Yeah." Darcy seemed placated, and Jane smiled. She totally deserved the title of mom-friend, one she wore with pride. Pepper could be that way at times too, but she wasn't at practice for obvious reasons._

 _Hela seemed to know what had gone down, because she kept sending snide looks their way, and smirked when Coach Hill checked the name Pepper Potts as absent._

* * *

"Wanda, you're home early." Papa was eerily calm, which was usually a warning sign that a storm was coming. Her fears were confirmed when she saw the half-empty bottle of crown sitting in front of him.

She stared at the light, bronze-colored liquid. There were still some drops running down the side, showing that he'd just taken a swig. She didn't know how he could drink so much; she'd tried a little bit of alcohol once in New York and it burned her throat. "Soccer was cancelled," she lied. It seemed like she was lying more and more these days.

He nodded slowly, as if he was in full agreement with her. Too bad his acting skills were never very good. "I got an interesting phone call today. From the school," he was sliding the bottle around the table in little circles, which he watched as if it were hypnotizing.

She stared at it too as he spoke, wishing it could tranquilize her like it did Papa. "I know, Papa. I was innocent in all of it; I was just a bystander." She tried to calm him.

He was standing in front of her faster than she could blink. "I'm sure you were," he hissed.

"Really, I was-" She never got to finish her explanation.

He slapped her hard, and yelled in her face, "I asked one thing of you! One thing before we moved! I said, 'Don't get into any trouble at your new school.' That was it! Why can't you be like your brother?! He is being perfect through all of this. I do so much for you!" He punched her in the gut. "I work my butt off and you sit on your ass! You go to _soccer,_ and have _play dates._ You're FIFTEEN for fuck's sake! Get a fucking job and earn your keep, you little bitch! You're worthless!" She wondered if she should speak up or let him keep going. He didn't give her much option for the first one. "You embarrass me! You're a disgrace to your mother's memory!"

Tears were silently rolled down her face, clouding her vision as she curled up in the fetal position on the floor. He kicked her a few times for good measure, then stomped off to his room and slammed the door. She stayed on the floor a few seconds later, as he returned for his crown and went back to his room where he would hopefully stay.

She shakily pulled herself up using the kitchen table, and slowly made her way to her room.

She sat on her bed for a long time, wondering what she should do. Bucky had made confessing seem so enticing, like she could tell them and the problem would be over.

Even if they managed to get her out of the situation, what would happen to Papa? He would likely go to jail. She didn't want that; he _was_ the same man who had held her after a nightmare, and bought her her first tea set. He'd taken her to scary movies her mother never approved of, and taken her out for ice cream. He wasn't a monster. He loved her. Mama's death left him broken, and Wanda wasn't sure she would have been able to handle the pressure of supporting a family after such a heavy loss. He was doing the best he could. They'd had a really good father-daughter relationship before, and a part of her hoped that it would return someday.

Still, how badly she knew this was wrong… Her heart said one thing while her brain said another. The only problem was that she couldn't figure out which was saying which.

 **I feel so bad for putting Wanda through this chapter… But y'know, story needs a plot and everything so someone has to suffer. As much as I'd like it to be Hela or Harry… I was thinking of making other fandoms cameos in school games and such too; not like big roles or anything. Would that be fun? I've done a little with Justice League already. So, here's another chapter! Started off kind of light then it got really dark…**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **WildestDreams72394: Thank you! More updates coming soon! I love your new story, by the way 3**

 **Thewritevoice: YAY MURDER**

 **Amora: You do, apparently! Haha. I love that my fic is causing sleep deprivation; it's the highest compliment one can give! So you get the whole anxiety thing… Yep, it sucks! But you're officially my online fangirl bestie! Although Bucda is the best ship name I've heard for them not involving their superhero alter egos, WinterWitch is definitely sexy! Chris Pratt on Parks and Rec was amazing, and I actually started watching the show because of him. Fun fact: I have an uncle who looks very similar to Chris Pratt… Thanks! I've had some interest in a Maze Runner fic, and even though you haven't seen them your blind faith in my writing abilities is very nice! But what if I'm a one hit wonder?!**

 **Tristana702: Ok, I'll have to make a one-shot describing it! I was thinking the theory, and my other friend was like "Wait, he's not dead because of this…?" So, yeah. They need to make another movie, because I'm not that happy with the way they ended it. I know there's only three books, but still! Thank you for the compliments! I really spent a lot of time thinking about WHY Wanda would be keeping it a secret, because that's something that has bugged me in a lot of fics involving abuse.**

 **Kittyjune26: Yes, I love the idea! Fatherly Tony is one of my favorite Tonys. I'll definitely be incorporating that. Good to have you back!**

 **MaximoffFangirl: He is a shuck-face, isn't he?! I would very much like to murder him, but I'm not so sure that belongs in this type of fic… Well… Maybe… We'll have to see. I'd like to very much!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, I've updated on my schedule twice in a row! That's pretty good! In case you haven't noticed, I update 2x week on Tuesdays and Fridays (at least I try to XD). Please leave a review! I've been getting less of them on more recent chapters, and I love to hear your feedback.**

-Chapter 10-

The next morning she felt a sense of deja vu, as she woke up with a quiet groan. She sat herself up a bit, only to lie back down when the pain made her nauseous. She groped at her nightstand for where her phone was charging, and pulled it over to look at the time. It had been dead since she'd gotten home, and with all of the events since she hadn't had time to charge it until it was time for bed.

It was nine a.m. _Shit!_ She was way late for school. As she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, she had to grab onto her bed frame. There were more bruises than the last time; that she could tell. There were some along her back from where he'd kicked her on the ground, and the side of her face felt tender.

There was also a notification from a text. Pietro: _Hey, I tried to knock to wake you up, but you were sound asleep. Are you taking a sick day? I can get your work for you if you like._

She smiled, not having thought about taking a sick day. She hadn't yet this year, so it wasn't out of the question. There was a text from Jane, too, but she hit delete without reading it. She didn't want to stress about her friends today.

What would her friends think? Her and Bucky had their presentations tomorrow, too. She didn't want them to think she'd just up and disappeared, especially after their fight. Maybe they wouldn't care, though. Maybe she could never go to school again and it would be good riddance. Pietro was the poster boy for likeability; who needed her around?

She knew she would have to go to school tomorrow, though, because grades were at least semi-important to her. Today, though, she could relax. Papa was _supposed_ to go to work. She could have the house to herself.

So she spent her morning slowly tidying up her room, as much as her battered body would allow. When she decided to venture into the living room, a sight made her stop short.

"Wanda!" Papa - why was he still home?

"Papa?" She asked uncertainly.

"Hey, how's my girl?"

She almost reeled back. The caringly apologetic look on his face was a surprise, since the last time he'd looked at her he had screamed obscenities in her face. "Um, I'm alright." A lie, of course.

"Good."

She stood there awkwardly, staring at her shoes. He was being nice for a change. Should she try to be civil as well? "How are you?" Still, she couldn't help the way her sore muscles tensed as she spoke with him.

"I'm doing just fine." He said. She risked a glance up long enough to see if he had a drink in his hand. Surprisingly, he did not. "Look, Wanda. I know I've messed up, and our lives have gone to shit. But I'm doing the best I can; you have to understand that I get stressed sometimes-"

"I forgive you." Wanda said quickly. She didn't really, even if she wanted to. But could this be the beginnings of her family stitching itself back together? She had to at least try.

He gave her a smile. "I know you're not really sick. So let's go for ice cream, just like old times, huh?"

"Sure," she agreed. "Let me get dressed."

Standing in her bathroom in leggings and an old t-shirt, she was more conflicted than she'd ever felt before. She wanted to go have ice cream, and they would make up. He would apologize for hurting her and promise to never do it again, and they would rebuild their lives. They could afford a nicer house, with a big yard for a family dog, next door to Jane's. Her and Pietro would have friends over all the time, and they could do a movie night at her place, and Papa would never even touch alcohol again because his love for his family would trump everything...

On the other hand, she craved revenge, rather than entertaining wistful thoughts. He'd pushed her down, degrading her physically and emotionally. He called her a burden, made her feel worthless when it was him screwing up their lives. She shouldn't have to fix his mistakes; she should be allowed to be a fifteen-year-old no matter what. Being young was a right. Darcy's mother had left, but her father had made sure she still got the childhood she deserved. Sure, Mr. Lewis hadn't been perfect, but at least Darcy was still able to be a kid. Why couldn't Papa do the same? Was it so selfish to want a little normalcy? He'd hurt her, and she wanted him to feel every knife he'd dug into her back carving him open, and show his insides for the true monster he was. The man who would abuse his own daughter.

She collected her darker emotions and shoved them down as she went to meet him by the front door. When she stood next to him, they pretended she didn't flinch as he put an almost fatherly hand on her shoulder.

* * *

The outing was bordering between normal and strange, but she found herself craving more of the experience. She wanted a father like the one taking her to the local ice creamery and told her stories about her Mama. She reminisced over when they used to be just like this. Papa had been a family man at heart, and if anyone had heard he would be beating his child several years later, they would have laughed.

"How is your ice cream?" He asked her, gesturing to her rocky road.

"Very good, thank you, Papa." She chewed on one of the nuts in her scoop. "And yours?"

"It's refreshing." He hummed in contentment. "You know your Mama's favorite flavor was-"

"Black cherry? I know." She smiled at him. It was the first time she'd really smiled at him in a long time, not just to keep up an image or to appease him. It put butterflies in her stomach. Maybe this was the frayed rope of their family, tying itself together again.

"She would be so proud of you, Wanda." He told her, and she ignored the fact that it contradicted everything he'd told her that night. She imagined for a minute that Mama was smiling at her from heaven, watching over.

"I miss her," she admitted.

"I do as well." He fiddled with his napkin. "I'm sorry this move has been so hard on you."

If he had bothered to pay attention to her, he would have seen that despite her home life, she was thriving in Virginia, going to Marvel High with her new friends. "It's not so bad. I like my new friends a lot."

He nodded. "Good. You know, when we get a little more situated, we could invite your old friends over sometime."

"Uhm," she gave a little smile. "Sure." Truthfully, she didn't want her new and old lives to meet. She was a different person in New York than she was here, and ran with a different crowd.

She received several texts from her friends in her absence. One was a long apology from Darcy, which she'd nearly teared up reading. She couldn't bring herself to reply; she'd rather do it in person. She had thought that they were mad at her, but it looked like they thought the opposite was true. There were a few more as well.

Tony: _U still alive?_

It was meant to be a funny way of saying "Where are you?" Still, she couldn't help but think back to last night when her father, the same man sitting in front of her eating pistachio ice cream, had been beating her. What if he had snapped, and just decided to kill her? She watched his face, unknowing of the dark thoughts swirling around inside of her head. _No,_ she told herself. _He wouldn't kill me. He told me already; he was just stressed._

Bucky: _Are you alright? We miss you today. Pietro told us you were sick, but I don't know. You know no one's mad at you, right?_

Her worries were eased now. They weren't upset with her. They wanted her to come back, even.

She knew she would have to return to school tomorrow. Not just for her presentation, but for all the friends she needed to apologize to. Evidently they did care whether she returned or not, so she would try not to disappoint.

* * *

So when she went to school the next day, the first thing she was welcomed with was a massive bear hug from Darcy. She had yelped out in pain when her injuries were rocked and squeezed, but thankfully not loud enough to be heard. "I'm sorry, Wanda!" Darcy was saying.

When she was finally released, she heard a chorus of "You're back," and "Why were you out?"

"I wasn't feeling well." It was truthful, technically.

"It wasn't because I was a bitch?" Darcy asked suspiciously.

"No," she said. "Well, that may have been why I missed soccer, but I woke up yesterday feeling ill." Yesterday… Yesterday had felt like one big daydream.

"Well, good to have you back." Bucky told her sincerely as the bell rang and the others started splitting off to go to their first period.

"Thank you."

He nodded as they started walking. "Ready for our presentation?"

She stopped short. "Wait… We were supposed to meet up yesterday to put on the finishing touches! I'm so sorry-"

"Wanda, calm down," he almost laughed, waving away her worries. "I just did it; I figured you needed some time to yourself."

She nodded and gave him a smile. That was really nice of him.

"Well, my calligraphy skills are a bit rusty, but I did finish it." He said as they started walking again, making her laugh.

The presentations were going well. Tony had gotten permission to move his last day of suspension to Friday so that him and Jane could give their presentation. Pepper had worked out the same deal, but she didn't have the class until later in the day. Tony and Jane were before them, and their presentation was going to be hard to beat. Tony had initially wanted to do a funny skit, but Jane had refused. In their compromise, they did a Google Slideshow supplemented with a few videos of the manatees doing humorous things (which seemed to mostly involve cabbage for some reason).

At the end, when people were clapping, ever-the-showboat Tony announced that "Since learning about these squishy rocks of the ocean, I've decided that I like them so much I've convinced my father to donate money to the research and recovery of them!"

After the teacher had clarified that the money donated would in no way change the way she graded, but was glad that he'd gotten into the spirit, Wanda and Bucky were up.

They held the poster between them, and she read the first paragraph describing them while Bucky pointed to parts of pictures and other visuals. She didn't want to read that much, but he'd insisted that her voice was nicer to listen to, something about her accent. While she was ninety percent sure he just didn't want to do it, she took the compliment anyways and agreed to.

She listened as he read the fun facts. "Their diets consist of mainly deer and small mammals." The presentation was going well, she thought as she glanced at the class. No one was asleep yet, but that may have been Tony and Jane to thank for waking them all up first.

She took over once again, "In conclusion, red wolves are beautiful creatures that didn't deserve to be hunted, and now it is up to us to save them." When they finished, they were received several compliments on their neat poster before they sat back down, and Bucky offered a high five.

Next up were Loki and Darcy, which was a pair Wanda had been dying to see. She had complained about Loki all through working on the project, but Wanda noticed that they had gone to meet up and work on it more than her and Bucky had. She questioned the relationship between them.

It was surprisingly uneventful. They read their parts of the poster on Black-footed Ferrets. Darcy, being herself, added a few jokes throughout the presentation that were clearly not scripted, but Loki only rolled his eyes and let her finish.

"What is a ferret's favorite band? The Ferretones." Wanda covered up her little smile at the cheesy joke.

Hela, however, muttered, "Wow, that's lame." It ticked Wanda off; it was meant to be corny! She looked to Darcy for her reaction, but instead found herself looking at Loki's.

She would expect the boy to agree with Hela, or smile at her at the very least. Instead of her predictions, he sent a glare towards the dark-haired girl and took a small step closer to Darcy as she continued reading. _What is going on with them?_

* * *

When Wanda got home after school, she didn't know what she was expecting. Papa wasn't home, which hopefully meant he was at work. Pietro was at football practice, like always, so she had the house to herself for the afternoon.

The kitchen was one of her least favorite places in the house. The countertops were lined with little green dots of mold, and it smelled like mildew. The only clean part was inside the fridge, because she'd spent a long time cleaning it out when they moved in. It was still relatively clean, because there was only a few beer bottles, some applesauce, and in the freezer were some fudgesicles that Pietro had bought a little while ago using his leftover birthday money. She'd spent hers, but silently thanked her brother for his good saving habits. He would never get into the situation that Papa did.

There wasn't much to eat, because they needed the dry foods in the cupboard and the applesauce for breakfast. At school they could get free lunches, and for dinner they usually walked over to Taco Bell or McDonalds for cheap food.

As she shut the fridge and moved to the couch, she wished they could at least have some decent snack foods. If Papa spent less money on beer and more on food, they could. Her hand reached for the remote, and she briefly wondered if she should feel guilty for keeping their Netflix. She decided she didn't.

Her sore body eventually gave out, and she fell asleep watching the wedding between Chris Pratt and April Ludgate, her last thought being that with how her life was going, it's probably what hers would look like too. If she ever got married…

"What is this!?" A loud voice jostled her for her slumber. Had that not done the trick, the pillow aimed roughly at her head would have.

"What is what, Papa?"

"How _dare you!?"_ She gulped. The look in his eyes was violent, like a wild dog staring down whomever had stolen his prey. "I work my ass off for you and your brother! We can't even pay bills! Here _you_ are, watching Netflix! You should have cancelled the subscription before we even moved here!"

"I'm sorry-" she whispered.

"We need that money!" He bellowed.

She didn't know what gave her the courage to say what she did to him, especially when he was already worked into such a state. This was a conversation for when he was being nice and buying her rocky road, not now. All she knew, was the instant regret as soon as the words left her mouth. "If I hadn't spent it on this, you would have gone and blew it on booze."

He was on her in a second, punching her in the bruises that were just starting to heal. His flailing fists struck her again and again, until he was finally tired. He spat at her, before quickly getting up. "Clean the mess up."

She hadn't noticed that her glass of water had gotten knocked off of the coffee table, but it would have to remain that way for a while. Her body throbbed in the position she lay in, and even the thought of moving sent a new wave of pain rolling over her.

She stayed there for thirty minutes, staring straight ahead at the television but not comprehending what was happening. Finally she gathered enough strength to reach over for the remote to turn it off. It was starting to give her a headache.

Slow movements were key, along with not touching against anything as she made her way off the couch and into her bedroom. Pietro would be home soon.

She tenderly at on her bed, letting tears silently roll down her face. She was sure her carefully-applied makeup was running, but she didn't care. She wouldn't come out of the room for the rest of the night, anyways. Never mind that it was only four in the afternoon.

A knock sounded on her door at six, and she answered, "Yes?"

"It's me," Pietro's voice came from the other side of the door. She breathed a light sigh of relief, careful not to jar herself. "I brought home burritos. Want to come eat with Papa and I at the table?"

 _Not really._ "Sure, just give me a few minutes."

The hall outside was silent, but she knew he was still there. Her suspicions were confirmed when he said, "Are you alright? Are you ill again?"

"No, Pietro. I'm fine. I'm just… painting my nails. It needs to dry before I can move."

He muttered something about girl problems before walking away, and she got up to go to her bathroom.

She had to wash off the remaining makeup first, and her reflection was horrific. The dark circles under eyes from lack of sleep were prominent, dark and nearly as wide as the Mississippi. The constant tears were doing wonders for her complexion however; she hadn't had any problems with acne lately. There was still the bruise from the very first time he'd struck her, and it was finally faded to a sickly yellow color. It didn't hurt as much now, besides being an eyesore. Heh, facial bruising puns.

She shook her head lightly, and got to work with the concealer. She'd do a good enough job to keep Pietro from noticing anything out of the ordinary, but it didn't need to last as long as when she went to school.

When she finally made her way out to the little table by the kitchen, she tried to walk as normally as she could. She trudged over to the table, where her brother flashed her a smile and Papa gave her a nod. Dinner was tense, as she tried to move as little as possible, whilst both her and Papa were acting as if everything was normal, exchanging pleasantries and mostly eating in quiet. However it wasn't like they had been at the ice creamery. Her hopes for their family were back to dwindling.

* * *

PE the next day was excruciating. Running the mile while in such pain was nearly impossible, and half way through she began to see black spots dancing in front of her eyes. Her body wanted them to grow and swallow her whole, so for even just a few minutes, she could not feel anything. Her mind resisted however, logic taking over. Fainting meant going to the nurse, who would no doubt discover the bruises and piece together what she'd been trying so hard to hide. She had to finish.

Her legs pushed her forward, and her heart beat erratically out of her chest as she ran for the finish. So at the end, she was much more exhausted than she usually was, and had to sit down.

"You alright, Wanda?" broke her out of her breathing pattern. It surprisingly came from Tony, of all people. He had sat next to her on the bleachers.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

He raised a brow. "You're looking like a tomato, your mile time was two minutes slower than the usual time you brag about, and towards the end you were kind of stumbling along. You're not alright."

"I'm fine," she argued, preparing her defenses.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, I'm not Pepper, or Jane. I'm not going to pressure you into saying anything you don't want to. But if something's going on, you can't let it get much worse. We'll always be here to help if you need it." His sincerity was almost overwhelming, coming from the wealthy playboy.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"So, you see the newest episode of Sherlock?" He asked with a grin. "Plot twist, am I right?"

"Actually, no. So don't spoil anything!"

He gasped, "How have you not seen it?"

She looked down. "Papa deleted our Netflix; we couldn't afford it." That was the understatement of the year - it was like saying Darcy was a _little_ weird at times.

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Wanda? What do you even have friends for?" He pulled out his phone and started typing something, before putting it away again.

Wanda's phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket suspiciously. There was a text from Tony: _5T4RK123._

"What's that?" she asked.

"My Netflix password, duh. Sign into it on your TV and make your own profile."

He had shrugged like it was no big deal, but to her it was. Sure, anyone could have done that really. But it meant a lot for him to give her something like that. "Thank you, really."

He rolled his eyes. "No biggie, and you better not get all sappy on me. I just need someone to discuss the episode with until they make another one in three hundred years and Darcy prefers Supernatural."

* * *

Soccer practice went alright, except she mainly tried to stay in the background. The time she had been passed the ball, Jane kicked it a little high and it hit a bruise on her thigh. The yelp she gave from the impact was a little melodramatic, she was sure the others were thinking. It hadn't been _that_ hard. Hela had even snickered at her afterwards. After that, she stayed out of the way.

This resulted in Coach Hill exasperatedly telling her to "Participate, Wanda!" She was sure this wasn't leaving a very good impression on the coach, who had taken a risk putting her in Varsity. She would try harder next practice, but today she was still healing and finding it hard to care.

It was safe to say she slept like a rock that night.

It was revealed on Saturday that the Netflix offering wasn't the extent of Tony Stark's good deeds for the moment. The group was sitting in Jane's living room. All except for Sam and Steve, who were visiting the Dollar Tree around the corner to grab their snacks for the movie night. Tony had practically demanded it was Steve and Sam that do it, leaving Sam to grumble about it while Steve agreed to going.

Tony rubbed his hands together. "Steve already knows. We're throwing a surprise party for Sam's birthday at my place. October twenty-fifth."

They nodded eagerly, while Jane said, "Wait… His birthday is the twenty-sixth, though?"

"To make sure it's a surprise!" Clint rolled his eyes playfully. "Keep up, Jane!"

Jane only shot him a glare, saying, "Fine, it's the twenty-fifth."

Pepper clapped her hands together. "We should all be in charge of something! That way it won't seem like too much work."

Wanda nodded. Normally Pepper's organization habits were a bit excessive, but she didn't have the energy for planning out an entire party, so this seemed like a good idea. "I agree."

Several others expressed agreement, and Jane pulled out a list. "Okay, so we'll need someone to handle invitations, a cake, food, drinks, decorations, and someone in charge of occupying Sam while we do everything."

Wanda said, "I can do a cake." Mama had taught her to make pies in Sokovia; how much harder could a cake be? She was sure she could borrow the ingredients from Jane, anyways.

Bucky nodded, "Put me down for cake, too. Sounds pretty easy."

She smiled at him; they were a great pair working on their project, and now they would get to bake a cake.

Tony appointed, "Jane, Pepper, and Thor can handle the decorations. The girls have an eye for those things and Thor can do the heavy-lifting."

Any normal person would have objected to being the pack mule, Wanda thought, but Thor only grinned and gave a thumbs up.

Darcy was put in charge of food, while Clint and Nat did invitations. Bruce was in charge of drinks, probably to ensure there wouldn't be any alcohol. "What will you be doing?" Wanda asked Tony, noticing he hadn't signed himself up for anything.

"I'm hosting, obviously. I have the most important job of all."

Wanda started picturing what kind of cake they should make; what kind of cake did Sam even like? Bucky would probably know.

Darcy interrupted their brainstorming by clearing her throat, and through Wanda's observations the girl was a bit more timid than usual. A rosy hue had applied itself to her cheeks, and she was fiddling with a hair tie around her wrist. Not to mention, she had gotten everyone's attention before speaking rather than just opening her mouth and babbling.

"Yes, Darcy?" Nat asked.

Darcy said quickly, "IthinkweshouldinviteLoki."

Thor, being the only one to understand a single word (probably because the word was Loki), asked if she could repeat it.

"I think we should see if Loki wants to come." She reiterated, speaking more clearly.

Most jaws were slack, Wanda's included. It was pretty clear that Darcy held the most bitterness towards him since the falling out (or as she always liked to refer to it as, The Famous Loki Adoption Scandal). Thus it was so surprising that she would be the one to suggest his redemption.

"You want to… what?" Clint was apparently lost.

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" Pepper asked, unsure.

"I've been hanging out with him and at first we didn't want you guys to know, but I think he's ready to reintegrate back into the group." Darcy said this all quickly, back to her new nervous persona.

"Not that I'm not one-hundred-percent in support of this, Darcy, which I am, but why did you two start hanging out in the first place?" Thor asked. "I thought you two were at each other's throats?"

"We were," Darcy confirmed. "But he saved me."

Tony scrunched his brow. "Loki… _saved_ you?"

"Yes."

The room was silent. "From what?!" Jane urged. "You have to give us the story now. What could melt the heart of Frosty the Snowman and change the mind of Darcy the Stubborn Mule?"

"I don't appreciate the nickname, but I'll tell you anyways." Darcy rolled her eyes. "So I was walking home one night from Jane's, and I made fun of some HYDRA graffitti, because, you know, that's an octopus. Anyone with half a brain would know that, I mean a hydra is a mythical creature with-"

"Darcy!" Jane snapped her fingers. "Focus."

"This is important mythology, Jane, but fine. Well they heard me, and some guys came over and shoved me against a wall." Darcy visibly shuddered at the memory. "They started talking about me in _that_ way and saying they were gonna have some fun."

"Who were they?" Bucky asked murderously. Wanda turned from her seat on the couch to see his face full of rage. A similar look was on everyone's faces.

"I don't know. I couldn't see their faces." Darcy shrugged. " _Anyways,"_ she continued, oblivious to the possible beginnings of a plot for murder happening in the room. "BAM! Loki punched the main guy, and then kicked him, and then him and his friends ran away like _babies,"_ Darcy's eyes were gleaming as she recounted the events like one would tell a bedtime story, not a near rape. "He walked me home, and we decided to try being friends again. So we met up under the guise of working on our project, and now I want him back in the group."

Her usual confidence had returned, and she said it with certainty.

"Okay, I say we can invite him." Pepper agreed.

"I don't know-" Tony started to argue.

"MY BROTHER IS COMING BACK!" Thor yelled loudly, and any argument Tony had fell on deaf ears.

"I'd like to meet him under better circumstances than the last time," Wanda said. She'd heard Loki had actually been alright before the revelation.

"Fine, let's do it." Tony said.

 **Whoo! Another chapter :) I hope you are still enjoying this. I've got lots of plans! If anyone has any more ideas, I'd love to hear them.**

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 **Amora: Don't feel bad, because I didn't even notice until you pointed it out, lol.**

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	11. Chapter 11

**Anyone else seen Black Panther? It was amazing! Tbh, even if I hated it, I would watch it over and over just to see Bucky's 30 seconds at the end LOL. But no, I loved it. Thor: Ragnarok is still my fav Marvel movie atm, but Black Panther is definitely up there! In the wise words of Shuri: WhAt ArE THosE!?**

 **I don't know why I was so nervous to submit this chapter. I think it's because it's one of the first ones to contain this much WinterWitch, and I really want to get it right. Please let me know what you think, good or bad! Got lots more of this coming up so I'd like to see what your opinions are.**

 **Lots of good WinterWitch (or Bucda :)) in this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy.**

-Chapter 11-

A week later, and Sam's party was only one day away.

In that week, her, Darcy, and Jane had been walking on eggshells around Pepper. The strawberry-haired girl was clearly a little upset by what had gone down with Osborne, though she actively denied it when approached on the subject. "We went on one date, what do I care?" Evidently, she cared at least a little. It probably hurt to hear him speak to her so insultingly after she thought they'd had a good time.

Papa had beaten her twice more, but it was less severe. She learned that if she curled into a more limp ball, she wasn't tense and the impact would be lessened. It was kind of a hard thing to remember in the moment though, and only made a slight difference. He avoided her like the plague when Pietro was around however, the last bit of common sense in his ever-intoxicated brain.

She learned how to keep playing soccer through her injuries, and if she avoided any high-flying balls she could usually get by. Coach Hill had seemed pleased with her performances since that first day, and she had scored twice in the last game against Disney High. Sure, they'd still lost, but her teammates all played hard even with them being outnumbered. They hadn't had an away game yet, but their next one was yet again against Disney High on their own territory.

The highlight of her week was when she'd gone to see one of Pietro's games with a few of her friends. Only Bruce, Bucky, Darcy, and Tony had gone. Apparently watching sports wasn't a big deal in the group, unless one of the members were taking part. They sat on the bleachers on that Wednesday evening, perched way in the back row and as far from the other spectators as possible.

"Your brother better win," Darcy said to her.

"He'll try," Wanda said with a smile. Pietro wouldn't go down without a fight. He'd always been one to try his hardest in everything. When they were younger, he could speak more languages than she could in Sokovia, simply because he wanted to be able to communicate with everyone. She admired his tenacity, but she'd stuck with what was spoken in the family, or the bare minimum required.

Nowadays she wished she had spent more time absorbing her culture.

"You ever watch football, Wanda?" Bucky asked. "Pepper, Thor, and Steve like to go to Tony's to watch on his big screen, but no one else really finds it that interesting."

"Not really, it's kind of confusing." She admitted. To be honest, Wanda never really enjoyed football. It wasn't overly confusing, it's just that stuff only happens for like twenty seconds. Then you wait. Then you get another twenty seconds… and over and over until eventually someone got something. "I only watch when Pietro's playing."

"Well, it's not _confusing,"_ Bucky said, putting finger-quotes around the stressed word. "Want me to explain it? Just since you'll be watching your brother more."

"Sure," she answered. She assumed it would be more fun to watch if she could actually see what was happening. The jumble of players running this way and that just didn't create a bigger picture in her mind.

He responded by stepping a little closer to her, and she noticed he was close enough that she could feel the body heat radiating off of him. It warmed her skin on the side he stood on, and the contrast with her other side was larger as it stood out against the chilly evening breeze. She hugged her jacket closer to herself, feeling the goosebumps.

"See that guy?" He pointed at one of the guys on the field.

"Which one?" She couldn't tell which he was pointing to; there were so many.

"Number ten, Rhodes. He's the quarterback." He looked back to her and she nodded. "Then your brother, see how he's crouching over the ball?"

"Yes." She looked carefully, making a note of where the listed players stood in the line. An empty Twizzlers wrapper crinkled in her pocket as she stuffed her hands into her sweatshirt.

"He's the center. He'll hike it to Rhodes and…" She listened to him explain, trying to piece together what was happening. It looked like Rhodey threw the ball to number sixteen, who started running but was tackled after about five yards.

Marvel High won, 26-13. When the players came off the field, she was sure to congratulate her twin. "Good job! You guys won!"

"You did not see that coming?" was his reply, as he returned her hug.

* * *

Her and Bucky were going to bake the cake today. It was a Friday, and school had let out. It seemed she spent more and more time with him lately, not that she was complaining. He made good company - not that she would ever in a million years tell him that.

What she had observed so far about the boy was that he was like Tony in some respects. He never seemed to have any trouble with attracting attention to himself, and there was no denying that he was attractive. He didn't use his charm like his friend, however. She had seen him get asked out by a few girls in the short time she'd been there, and was positive he'd went on a few dates. They didn't really seem to stick, but the number one difference between exes of Bucky Barnes and exes of Tony Stark was that the latter's ex-girlfriends tended to hold a mild distaste for him afterwards. He was still highly popular with the ladies, but things tended to end more rocky, or bitter. Bucky's dates still held strongly positive opinions of him. She'd witnessed previous dates still flirting with him as they passed in the halls.

Another thing about him was how devoted he was to his friends. This was a common trait amongst everyone else in the circle, but it stood out more prominently with him. He was always looking out for them, in a similar way to Jane. Was dad-friend a thing? He particularly chose to protectively watched over Steve, Jane, Darcy, and Wanda noticed that she herself was beginning to be added to that list.

They had chosen to go to a store by the school before heading to his house. The market was one of those hippie-type places, with ersatz brands of everything instead of the real stuff. It didn't really matter; their selection of Tay's Potato Chips didn't affect their cake-baking.

"So we need flour, eggs, milk, vanilla, what else goes in cake?" Bucky was making a mental list as they walked down the aisles.

"Or we could use this." She pointed to a shelf they were walking past holding all kinds of cake mixes. "Then we just need to add eggs and milk."

"I like the way you think." He reached out for a can of premade frosting. "How did we get this job, again? Jane could be a professional cake maker, and I've never baked anything in my life."

"Well, I thought this would be easiest." She shrugged. "Mama taught me how to make pies when I was little. This can't be too much harder."

He nodded. "You know, - and I mean this in the best way - the way you talk is awesome. Calling your parents 'Mama' and 'Papa' and your accent… It's so cool."

She blushed. Often she felt different because of her background in Sokovia. "Thank you," she said.

"Do you speak other languages, or anything like that?" He asked as they strolled down the aisle towards the eggs. She had yet to find anyone else so interested in her past, but he kept it up like talking about smaller European cultures was normal in day-to-day conversational topics.

She nodded, recalling how she used to speak to her family before moving to America. "In my family we spoke Romani and German," she told him. "Mama and Papa were both of German descent and wanted their children to speak it. Romani was a more common language in Sokovia. I also spoke a little Serbian, because most signs and writings were written using the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet."

He whistled. "That's… awesome. Can you still speak any of it?"

She nodded, thinking back to when she was fluent in it. " _Fokus, Bucky. Wir müssen den Kuchen machen."_

"Cool! What did you say?"

"Focus, Bucky. We need to make the cake." She told him.

"I know, but what did you say?" At first she had assumed he was kidding, but a look at the confused expression on his face told her otherwise.

She took a long look at him, before walking ahead of him and picking up a carton of eggs. He would realize soon enough, she hoped. Besides, it was fun to mess with him like this.

She was correct, when a few seconds later he emitted an "Oh!"

She laughed, and they continued picking up the ingredients.

When they got to the checkout, she fished in her bag for the few bucks she managed to scrounge up. Some crumpled ones and a few coins filled the palm of her hand, and suddenly standing in line, it didn't feel like as much as it had when she spent all morning looking through the house for it. Her face burned in shame; she would have to ask for him to pay for more of it. She could pay him back… But when? Three dollars and sixty-seven cents was all she had in their entire house.

It was unclear whether he had planned on doing it anyways, or read the look on her face and guessed, but he said, "I got it," and handed a ten and a five to the cashier. She thanked him, but he waved it off. "My dad gave it to me, anyways."

Back at his house (because hers wasn't fit for living, much less baking), they set everything on the counter. "Okay," she picked up the box. "It says to mix the stuff in the bag with two eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla, and half a cup of milk."

He nodded, pulling milk out of the fridge. "Bowls are in the cupboard."

She opened a random cupboard, and was pleased to see that she had picked the right one. Bowls were stacked high, and she carefully maneuvered one out of the tower. It would be highly embarrassing to have them all fall and inevitably break. Her bad luck seeming to turn around, she was able to get one out and set it on the counter.

Of course, that didn't stop her from hitting her head on the door when she went to close it. "Ow," she said.

He stopped what he was doing. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." It seemed like he asked her that question a lot. Did he care about her? Or maybe she just managed to get herself into painful situations a lot, the latter probably being more likely.

The funfetti batter, which Darcy would certainly approve of, was poured into the pan and stuffed in the oven. "I think we're doing pretty well so far." She shut the oven door.

"Yep," he nodded. "What do we set it to?"

She facepalmed. "You didn't preheat it?" That part was the one part in this operation she knew was necessary from her pie-baking experiences.

"Um, no?" He grabbed the box and turned the knob to three-fifty. "We'll just leave it in for longer."

She set the timer on her phone to an extra five minutes.

They sat down on the couch, watching something she wasn't paying that much attention to. Half an hour later, her phone started buzzing, signalling that the time was up. "I'll go look at it," he offered.

A few seconds later, she heard an uncertain and slightly panicked "Wanda?" coming from the kitchen.

She got up and walked over to where he was holding the pan a little bit away from himself. "What is it?"

"The cake," he gestured.

She stepped closer and looked at it. The batter still seemed runny and, _is it bubbling?_ She shrugged, speechless. She was positive they had followed the directions, aside from the preheating thing.

"What do we do?" He asked.

"I don't know!" She stared at the monstrosity. It looked like if they stuck it back in, it might explode. "This never happened with the pies!"

He looked down at it, then back up at her. "Safeway?"

"Definitely."

They bought a nice-looking birthday cake, and some tubes of colored frosting to write on it. The cake was huge, and it was a bit more expensive, but necessary. She felt bad that yet again she couldn't really contribute, but he didn't even ask her to.

They took it back home and put it on a fancy cake plate supplied by his mother, and she got to work on icing it. "What do we want it to say?"

"'Happy Birthday Sam,' should do." He watched her closely. "You can write it in your Siberian Acrylics."

She snorted and pulled her hand away from the cake, not wanting to mess it up. "Serbian Cyrillics," she corrected.

"Right, sorry," he said.

"Then no one could read it." She said.

He shrugged. "So? 'Happy Birthday' is boring."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll do it underneath."

When she was finished, it had red frosting saying ' _Happy Birthday, Sam!'_ Underneath in blue, was the translation. ' _Сретан рођендан, Сам_ '

She was pleased with it, and realized that she had used more of her history and Sokovian culture today than in the past several months. She was proud of her old country, and was happy she could take parts of it with her.

They high-fived, even though the ordeal had been one massive failure after another. It was agreed they would keep it at his house overnight so she didn't have to walk home with it.

* * *

Saturday morning, they were all at Tony's house, helping with setup. Aside from Steve, who was keeping Sam occupied by mini golf.

It was the first time Wanda had ever been to Tony's house. More accurately, Tony's mansion. She had heard of his father, the great inventor, on numerous occasions. He frequently went to New York on business, and he was well-known. While he wasn't home much and didn't spend much time with his son, Wanda could spot many similarities between them.

First, Tony was a genius. He excelled in everything he did, and was at the top of his class. Secondly, were their looks. Howard Stark was much older now, but Wanda imagined him in his youth to look much like Tony, with the same facial features and hair. The list of similarities could go on and on, but she liked to think of the differences between them just as much. Howard was a businessman. Not that Tony wouldn't be a good one, but Howard took into account himself and his company. Tony, on the other hand, had just donated a large sum of money to a charity organization.

Their wealth led them to a grand house. She wasn't sure why they chose Virginia of all places; it was probably Ms. Stark's choice. The front lawn was green, and a wide set of marble stairs led to the front door. It was probably three stories high, but the party would only take place on the bottom two, as the top was bedrooms. There was a spiral staircase leading to the roof deck however, and guests would be allowed up there.

"How many people are coming?" Jane asked as she balanced precariously on a stool to put up the banner.

Natasha said, "We invited twenty, but word always gets out about Tony's parties. Expect much more than that."

"We need a bouncer." Wanda suggested.

"Nah," Clint said. "Sam likes big parties. If it were Nat's party we would need one." He shot a look at her.

She said, "If anyone throws me a surprise party, I'll kill them."

Wanda didn't doubt it. She wasn't a big fan of surprise parties, herself. Or parties in general, when they were for her. Being the center of attention wasn't for her.

Tony came trotting downstairs, "Pepper says we have more balloons for the roof in her bag, which is…?"

"On the table." Jane answered.

Darcy arrived, walking through the door with several bags of what was hopefully food. And _good_ food, not circus peanuts. "There better not be circus peanuts in there," she eyed the bags suspiciously.

"Relax, I only got one bag for myself since they're on sale and no one else has taste." She dropped one of the bags. "Someone help me, already!" Tony had already vanished back up the stairs, and Jane was being assisted by Thor with the banner, so Wanda went to pick up some of the bags.

They managed to get them onto the counter, and Pepper appeared next to them. Conveniently, it was right after the heavy lifting. "What do we have?"

"Pizza, chips and dip, fruit, my grandma insisted on making devilled eggs, _lots_ of candy but nothing good because you guys suck, and hot dogs. All in bulk."

"Hot dogs are gross. Do you know what's in them?" Pepper scrunched her nose.

"Pure deliciousness, that's what." Clint walked over to peek in the bags. "Tony said to put the hot dogs into the fridge by the barbeque."

Bucky showed up next with their cake. They had decided he should bring it, because his mom could drive him over, thus less chance of it getting ruined.

Pepper caught sight of it, and said, "That looks great, guys!"

Wanda wasn't sure if she should accept the compliment or not.

Darcy decided to rain on the parade by saying "What store did _that_ come from?"

Bucky set it down and put a hand over his chest, feigning hurt. "Darcy, your words hurt. We _slaved._ This cake was made with blood, sweat, and tears. The secret ingredient was _love._ This cake was baked to perfection… by the lovely workers at Safeway."

Wanda snorted, and Pepper simply rolled her eyes.

"We actually did try to make a cake," she felt the need to explain. "It turned into a bomb."

Pepper laughed, shaking her head. "I really don't care. As long as we have a cake."

The way everyone was so organized through the set up led Wanda to believe this was far from the first time they had had a party like this. For Wanda, however, this was the first time she'd done something this extravagant. She'd thrown a party with her old friends once, but they just rented a place and hired people to do it. That was a different time, before Papa blew his money on booze.

The place looked amazing. Streamers hung from every doorway, and Tony had set his lights to dim. A large speaker was ready to pump music, and most of the furniture was pushed out of the way. The food table had an impressive spread, and Bruce had come through with the drinks. There were all kinds of sodas and punches. She suspected he had gotten most of it from the Dollar Store, but that was just fine by her.

Hell, she hadn't paid for _anything_. The thought crossed her mind and she felt guilty. Bucky might as well have gone to the store and done the cake himself; her baking skills weren't even needed.

The thought weighed on her the more she thought about it. Tony supplied the house, and everyone else had bought supplies.

"What'chu thinkin' 'bout?" Darcy sat next to her, watching Nat spray silly string into Clint's hood. That would be a funny surprise for later.

"Nothing much," she replied, playing it off like she'd just be daydreaming. "This looks like it's going to be fun."

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p.' "Is that what you're wearing to the party?"

Wanda looked down at her attire. "I guess?" She was in a black t-shirt and jeans, with her usual red jacket tied around her waist. It wasn't that cute, but it had seemed perfect for preparing for a party. The party itself she hadn't thought about yet.

"No," Darcy shook her head. "Tony's parties are a bit classier than that. Not a lot, but we can't have you looking like a hobo."

Wanda scrunched her nose, mildly offended. She didn't look _homeless._ Did she?

"Come to Jane's with Pepper, Nat, and I. I'm sure she has something in her closet that will coordinate with your aesthetic. Seriously, Wanda, life isn't an instagram hippie post. But whatever floats your boat." Darcy offered.

* * *

She didn't know why she agreed. Okay, so the outfit selection had actually been really nice, and she did look good in this black dress. Darcy had dug through the pile of discarded clothes and insisted she wore her red leather jacket, because "If you're going to advertise a color, you might as well go for it."

Jane's mom had also supplied them with some snacks, to tide them over until the party.

However, she now found herself attempting an impossible task. They were all looking into Jane's bathroom mirror, applying makeup. Apparently she had gotten so good at applying concealer to hide the bruises, no one had noticed that she was already wearing some. So she had to find a way to do her makeup nicely while not smudging the layers already applied, and being careful not to cake it on too high.

All while not wincing when she touched them. Yippee.

Thankfully the other girls were too busy with their own to notice her slow movements and careful blending. Aside from Nat, that is, who had put on the bare minimum then started texting Clint.

"Clint says we should go soon. The other guests will start arriving at five, so we should get there at four forty-five." Natasha said as her phone chimed.

"Perfect," Jane said. "I'm almost done. Then we can walk over."

The walk to Tony's was a short one. When they arrived, most everyone was there. "Finally! Steve said he can delay Sam until five thirty."

Wanda watched as more and more guests arrived. First it was their group, then people like Sharon Carter started showing up; familiar but not friends. Then there were strangers walking through the door.

Natasha moved to stand next to her, already holding a glass of punch. "Well, I'm glad we spent so long on those invitations," she commented sarcastically. "Two thirds of these people didn't receive them. Why didn't we just run through the school with a megaphone?"

Wanda laughed, observing the sea of people filing in. It was a good thing Tony had a big house.

Everyone was there except for Sam and Steve, and Tony clapped his hands to turn off the lights. "Hide!"

Wanda scurried behind a couch, and crouched down. She could make out Pepper next to her. When Steve opened the door, she heard him say, "I just need to grab my jacket." Sam stepped into the house, and everyone jumped up as Tony clapped the lights back on.

"Happy Birthday!" was chorused around the room.

There were hugs, and claps on the back. Sam seemed to be loving the spotlight, and she sort of wished that she could enjoy being the center of attention. It just wasn't for everyone.

Darcy was looking sour in the corner, and Wanda moved towards her. "What's up?"

"He said he'd be here," she grumbled softly.

"Who?"

"Loki."

Bucky approached them, saying, "I'm sure he'll show up soon, Darcy-pants."

Wanda's heart went out to the girl, who had instilled so much faith in the asshole to reintegrate into the group. Her naivety was adorable, but in some cases led to her getting hurt in the end. There wasn't much she wouldn't do to wipe the frown off of her friend's face.

Bucky turned to Wanda. "How's it going?"

"It's good. This is a great party."

"Good." He turned, and Wanda followed his gaze. Standing in the doorway was a raven-haired boy who looked very out-of-place, like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world. The blue eyes found the three standing in the corner, but his gaze lingered on Darcy the longest. He started walking over.

So she would finally get to meet the infamous Loki Odinson. On better terms, that is.

"Loki! Good to have you back!" Bucky clapped a hand on his shoulder as he came closer.

"Um, thanks," Loki said awkwardly, his gaze turning to Wanda. "Wanda," he greeted shortly. At least he was making an effort. That was more than she'd seen him do since they met.

She watched as he finally turned to Darcy, and said, "I believe you promised _red_ licorice." He said this as his lips twitched, and Wanda had to remind herself that he had known Darcy much longer than she had; of course he would know about her weird tastes.

"Right this way," Darcy led him, noticeably much perkier.

"I take it they used to be close?" Wanda commented.

"Not really," Bucky said absentmindedly. "Not any closer to him than the rest of us, as far as I could tell."

Man, this group was complicated. She wondered if there had ever been any other friends that had been in the circle, but fell out. Maybe they moved away, or switched schools. She would never have the full history.

He gave her a nod. "I'm getting punch; I'll bring some back for you."

"Thank you," she smiled.

* * *

 _Darcy's POV_

 _He had shown up! Of course he was always true to his word. She just wasn't entirely convinced he wanted back with the gang as much as she did. But as he easily trailed behind her through the crowd, she knew he was starting to feel the nostalgia._

" _I also got the mini jawbreakers," she said as they reached the food table. "I know you like those."_

 _He nodded, picking a few out of the bowl and popping them in his mouth._

 _She watched him carefully. Loki used to be this way at parties; quiet and more reserved. When Odin-the-craptastic-dad spilled the news on his adoption, he started to turn more into Tony. He wanted to be the center of attention, in a desperate grab for love he felt he'd missed out on._

" _It's good to have you back, Loki." She mused aloud. She hadn't meant to, but her mouth never did have much of a filter._

 _He looked at her closely, checking for sincerity. She wished he would stop doing that, and just trust what she said. That was the thing about no filter - everything you said was true to your thoughts. Deciding she was being genuine, he replied "It's good to be back."_

" _Why did you leave, then?"_ Don't push your luck, Darcy. _She mentally facepalmed. Scaring him off with questions was the opposite of what she'd wanted to do tonight. She'd wanted him to come and have a fun time, like the good old days. The question had remained, though, burning at the back of her mind._

 _To her surprise, he actually answered. "You think my father told me about my adoption? I found the papers, sorting through the attic. I found out I actually belong to another family, and was born a Laufeyson rather than an Odinson. If that much of my life was fake, then why wouldn't the rest of it be as well?"_

 _Okay, if she had known he was going to give a long philosophical question as the answer to_ her _question, she wouldn't have asked. Her brain couldn't think up a good answer. "We were your real friends," she insisted._

" _I know that now," he said._

" _Do you?" she asked, disbelieving. He'd avoided the rest of their friends so far, only sticking by herself._

 _He seemed surprised that she had caught his white lie, his eyes widening for a second. She knew he was normally an awesome liar. Thus, she'd learned all of his tells. No one pulls the wool over Darcy Lewis' eyes!_

 _Unless it was her, putting on a sweater._

 _He collected his wits before responding, which only took a second. "I know that you are my real friend. And because you are my friend I will try to make nice with the others again."_

 _She nodded, satisfied with the answer. She was also a little proud of herself, for wrapping the emo outcast around her little finger so well. No, not in a manipulative way. She would use it for his own good, whether he knew it or not._

 _The thoughts put a smirk on her face, and before he could ask what she was smirking about, she gasped. Tony's playlist had begun one of her favorite songs! The opening notes to 'Bless the Broken Road' were pumping over the speaker, and the lead singer's voice soon followed._

" _Dance with me!" she demanded. Usually she forced Jane to dance with her to this, but she was occupied somewhere else. Loki would have to do._

" _What?" he asked. "I will not-"_

" _Yes!" She took his hand and drug him away from his precious jawbreakers. "I love this song!"_

 _Apparently she hadn't thought this through, because once they stopped in the middle of the room, she realized that this song seemed so much slower when she was actually dancing with a guy rather than swaying out-of-rhythm and singing the words loudly with her best friend._

 _She had once made Steve dance with her, but he spent the entire time blushing sheepishly and making sure his hands weren't placed too high or too low to be pervy. She admired his chivalry, but seriously, dude? They were only dancing for fun - he could accidently grab her butt for all she cared._

 _This here, dancing with Loki, was very different from the previous occasions._

 _He seemed unfazed, however, and put a hand on her waist, taking her left hand in his right. They started moving to the music, and his steps were smooth. She tried her hardest, but stumbled after him a few times when her stumpy legs failed to keep up with his longer ones. He acted like he didn't notice, and simply held her up when she nearly face-planted into his chest._

 _She couldn't help staring at his feet the entire time, making sure she wasn't getting left behind. Thoughts of how awkward it would be had vanished, because it was just the two of them, friends reunited, dancing to her favorite song in the middle of a crowded party when no one was even paying attention to them._

 _The song ended, and they stepped back from each other. She was slightly breathless from keeping up, and he just wore his usual smirk. "Was that satisfactory?"_

 _She couldn't resist teasing him. It was against the Darcy Law. "You're a little rusty, I see. Shape up, greenie."_

 _He only rolled his eyes, saying, "I need more candy if I'm going to be suffering here all evening."_

* * *

Wanda's POV

She held her punch as she walked around. The food looked good, but she wasn't that hungry. She was looking for somewhere a little quieter to hang out for a bit; the party scene got tiring after a while.

She mostly hung out on the sidelines. She suspected most of the group was on the roof, aside from Clint and Nat who were sat at a table and Darcy and Loki. Those two were something else. Never before had there been such an unlikely pair, but in a way they matched each other perfectly, Wanda noted. It had shocked her at first when they started dancing (which was clearly Darcy's idea). She quickly decided Darcy's lovelife was none of her business unless Loki hurt her in any way, and averted her gaze.

But not before snapping a quick picture, of course. Who knew? It might come in handy someday.

She was walking up to the second floor, when another raven-haired person who didn't particularly like her crashed into her. How many of them were at this party?

She narrowly avoided spilling her punch down the front of her dress, sighing in relief. She didn't want to return it to Jane trashed, and she didn't trust her rickety washing machine to not ruin the fabric.

"Watch it," was hissed, and Hela shouldered past her roughly.

Wanda had to restrain herself from "accidently" spilling it all down Hela's back. Especially when she jarred the shoulder with the bruise.

"Bitch," she whispered under her breath as she climbed the stairs.

She decided to go into the theater room, because it would likely be the least crowded, and had many chairs where she could sit comfortably. Why didn't they use it for their movie nights?

 _Jane's place is the classic slumber-party location,_ her mind supplied itself with the answer. Huddled in the living room together wouldn't be the same as all sitting in separate seats, divided by armrests adorned with cupholders.

Inside, she saw something that was much more shocking than whatever Darcy/Loki weirdness was happening downstairs at the moment.

It was Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, sitting in one of the seats. He was leaning over the seat next to him, his hand resting on a girl's thigh as they kissed passionately. He used his other hand to brush light-colored hair out of her face as they parted.

The flushed and slightly breathless Pepper Potts smiled back at him.

 _Nope._ She did not want to be awkwardly watching when they realized she had seen it. She backed out of the room hurriedly, deciding to continue her previous task of finding somewhere quiet. Thoughts swirled around her head as she downed her punch quickly, hoping the sweet liquid would rid her of the taste in her mouth. It only got more bitter.

Selecting another door, she swore that if Thor and Bruce were having a makeout session in here, she was leaving. There was only so much she could take in one night.

The room was more of a glorified pantry, but it would do. She sat on the floor up against the wall, with the door shut behind her. The noise of the party outside didn't quite reach in here, instead being a soothing background as she breathed deeply.

Her phone buzzed, and she smiled. Pietro: _Just checking in. U having fun?_

She typed back a _Yes, thanks!_

She then did something she hadn't in a while, and scrolled through her camera roll. Not quite sure what was possessing her to do it, she deleted every picture from New York that didn't include herself, Pietro, or Mama. Papa next to the fireplace, _delete._ Her and her two friends at the mall, _delete._ Her old room, _delete._ She continued until she only had the photos she cared about, and smiled to herself. The act felt so cleansing. The only history she was proud of was her Sokovian roots; New York was just the stepping stone between the best versions of herself. Because the best version of her older self was here and now, with these people she was lucky enough to call her best friends.

She looked up from her phone screen after scrolling for so long, and _woah…_ Were the canned goods spinning? It certainly looked that way.

Her head fogged for a minute as she switched from looking at the shelves to looking at the floor.

Wanda had never felt this way before, but she felt how Papa seemed like he acted on most days. Wait, was she drunk? She'd never had alcohol before, so she didn't have a good point of reference. It definitely felt off.

It registered in her intoxicated brain that she should probably get out of this closet and alert one of her friends. She stood up very slowly and shuffled to the door, she struggled with the handle for a minute because… it was upside down? _No, now it's fine_. She unlocked it in the brief moment of clarity, and stumbled into the hall.

Looking around, she didn't see any familiar faces. Should she ask someone? No, she couldn't really trust these people. Especially since she'd heard about what had nearly happened to Darcy… _Darcy, why was she dancing with Loki earlier? I thought- Focus, Wanda!_ It wouldn't be a good idea to broadcast being a drunk chick.

She made her way to the stairs, knowing at least one of her friends would be downstairs. The rest were probably on the roof.

She just stood at the top of the stairs. The steps seemed to blur in front of her, and she gripped the banister until her knuckles turned white. Once in their old house, when Papa had first started drinking, he had fallen down half of the staircase and gone to the hospital with a broken rib. She didn't want that. It sounded painful, and she had had enough pain.

"Wanda?"

She didn't turn, not wanting to lose her balance. Her head lifted a little and she looked into Bucky's face, his stormy eyes the only thing not swimming in front of her. "Bucky, help," she whimpered softly. "I think someone spiked m'drink."

 **In case you haven't noticed, I've never actually been drunk before. Hopefully that wasn't painstakingly obvious, but oh well. I also was happy with the length of this one. I'm going to challenge myself to write at least this much in future chapters.**

 **Responses to Reviews:**

 **Thewritevoice: *starts fighting wrong side***

 **Amora: Sorry about your laptop! I had a similar problem with my phone a little while ago, and it was annoying :/ I haven't thought of doing that with my uncle, but I should try it! May work (obviously not on die-hard Chris Pratt fans, but I could probably convince a lot of others). I like ScarletSoldier… Better than ScarletWinter or SoldierWitch lol. I'll do my very best to keep going with this! I'm on a roll right now, so hopefully it won't ever come to an end. Lol, fury. Ha ha. I love puns (it sounds sarcastic but I really do). And DUDE your theory gave me some ideas… I actually already have the perfect place all planned out for it! I also may have gotten excited and already rough drafted the scene… Whoops.**

 **Guest: It'll happen at some point! Hope you like this chapter :)**

 **Mcduffie145: Thank you! I have separate arcs plotted for all of the characters that I'm constantly adding to, so ya I guess I have lol.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, so sorry for the little hiatus! I thought, 'I'll just take like a week to organize myself,' and forgot that I left you guys on a cliff hanger! Okay maybe it was more of a tree hanger, but still. Anyways, I be back with another updateeeee. I had to completely rewrite this chapter because I hated it, but now I think it's alright.**

* * *

-Chapter 12-

 _Pepper's POV_

 _The Stark's theater room wasn't enormous, with three rows of four seats. It was still pretty impressive that they even had a theater room, though. It wasn't all that common, even for the wealthier parts of town. She found herself wishing that she could recline in the plush leather seat forever, forgetting everything._

 _The Dr. Pepper bottle had condensation dripping down it, chilling her hand. Darcy and Tony had pressured her into drinking the soda when they were younger - she had been assured it was a traitorous sin not to drink her namesake. Nevermind explaining to either of them that the drink had come long before her time, nor that she had any relation to it whatsoever. Still, it had become her drink of choice._

 _The carbonation failed to distract her from her troubles as a few tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. She stared straight ahead, pretending the uneven and slow teardrops didn't provoke her OCD, making her want to brush them away. Truth be told, she wasn't over Harry. He had been the perfect date, and she had hoped he'd thought the same of her. Clearly, that had not been the case. Tony had been right since the beginning - Harry Osborne was a jerk who played with people's emotions to fulfill his stupid "conquest."_

 _Of course she had known about the conquest from the start. She wasn't blind. The illogical part of her brain, the romantic part, had let her imagine a scenario where he'd fall in love with her and change his ways. For her._

 _Another part of her just didn't think he'd be idiotic enough to try something like that with her. It was like throwing a dodgeball at Nat; the ricochet was deadly._

 _A half-smile graced her face as she thought about the ricochet she'd dealt him. The whimpering noise he'd emitted as he sank to the ground had given her more pleasure than she'd thought it would, and she couldn't find it in herself to feel guilty about it. Bastard deserved it, and one from every girl he'd ever deceived._

 _It had cheered her up for a little bit, but she was still upset over the whole ordeal. In front of her friends, she wore a smile. After all, it seemed silly to cry over a douche you'd only gone on one date with._

" _Bruce said you'd gone in here." The welcoming distraction came from behind her._

 _She quickly wiped her sleeve over her cheeks, clearing the tear tracks in one swipe. "Hi, Tony."_

" _Hey, Pep." He sat in the seat next to her, and she un-reclined so they could talk. There was no point in trying to avoid it - he would make her. "What's wrong?"_

 _She gave a half-hearted chuckle and shook her head, warning, "It's dumb."_

 _He turned her head so she was looking at him. The lines in his forehead creased with worry as he assured her, "It made you cry. It's not dumb." He put a hand on her shoulder._

 _They were throwing a party on the other side of that door, and sitting in here talking about her personal issues wasn't very good hostmanship, she was sure. However she knew him well enough to know he wouldn't let this go, and she really needed someone to talk to right about now. "Am I not good enough, or something?"_

 _The hand on her shoulder fell, and the worry lines disappeared. "Actually, that is dumb. It might be the dumbest thing you've ever said, if I didn't know about the whole c*ckporn-popcorn mixup of the first grade."_

 _She ignored the jab - she was six for god's sake - and argued "Tony-"_

" _No," he shushed her. "Pepper, you're not 'good enough.' You're freaking perfect and anyone here would tell you the same. Well, Hela would disagree but that's really a compliment, and Loki would give you a 'meh,' but other than that everyone adores you."_

 _She gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks, Tony."_

" _Who made you think that? Was it Osborne? I swear, I will punch him into-"_

" _No need!" She derailed his vengeance quickly. "Besides, you already did that." They both smiled at the memory. "It wasn't him, it's just… Guys never ask me out, you know? The first time in a year someone's asked me, and it's just so I can be some number in a scorebook."_

" _Maybe they're intimidated by you."_

 _She gave an unlady-like snort. "Doubt it."_

" _No, really. You're terrifying."_

 _They were really close now, neither one realizing they were subconsciously moving forward. The subliminal messages were now becoming conscious, and it was with a_ very _conscious thought that Tony closed the gap._

 _Then, they were kissing. He was obviously a good kisser; he'd had lots of practice. She'd never in a million years thought she'd get to experience it. It was slow, and tender, but the passion behind it was overwhelming. She melted into it, feeling like some lovestruck fictional character that Darcy was always going on about._

 _They parted, and he brushed some of her hair out of her face. He gave her a smile, saying, "Feel better?"_

 _She nodded, when a sinking thought hit her. He was one of her best friends, but he was still a player. Maybe not in the same way as Harry was, but he was still undeniably a player. Her smile dropped, and she said, "Tony, you-"_

" _What?"_

 _She stammered out, not wanting to hurt his feelings, "I know your -er tendencies with girls, and I-" There was no way to politely say 'You're a player and bound to break my heart.' She sighed, looking him in the eye and instead asking the question, "Did that mean anything to you?"_

" _Did it to you?"_

" _I asked you first."_

 _He knew what she was asking, what she had been trying to put into words. "Yes, it meant something. I'm not going to hurt you, Pepper. That's a promise."_

 _Did she trust him?_ Yes. _Who knew, though, right? This could backfire in a few months from now, or even tomorrow. All she knew, was that he was here right now and making promises she would trust him to keep._

 _Their lips reconnected, and she smiled into the kiss. It was one of the first real smiles since the scene in the hallway, and her consequential suspension. It was one of pure bliss. "It meant something to me, too." She murmured this against his lips, and his smile into their kiss signalled that he'd heard her._

* * *

Wanda's POV

The fuzziness in her head made it hard to think straight. She looking at her friend pleadingly, hoping he would help her. Help her with what? What should she do? She racked her brain for what a sober person would do in this situation. Wait, a sober person wouldn't be in this situation… Home. She wanted to go home. He could help take her home.

"Someone spiked my drink," she repeated as she gripped the banister tightly.

Finally seeming to understand, he muttered, "Shit, Wanda." He reached out to grab the empty dixie cup from her, looking inside as if there was some piece of evidence as to who did this. Unfortunately, this wasn't Sherlock. "Who did this?"

"I don't know," she whimpered. If she could think back far enough… Her brain didn't want to rewind that far, though. She could figure it out later, when she could actually function. "Help."

He chucked the useless cup a little down the hall behind him, nearly hitting someone in the head as he looked at her. He put her arm over his shoulders, wrapping his own around her waist. "I got you."

They made it to the bottom of the staircase and she heaved a sigh of relief at not yet having made falling down the stairs drunk into a family tradition.

She could tell by his halt at the front door that he wasn't entirely sure what to do. None of the sophomores could drive yet, and the Juniors they weren't too familiar with… Calling an adult would surely bring the cops; they were bustable now that there was booze in the building.

He turned, and she grabbed onto his shoulder as the room spun. "Nat!" he said loudly.

She could see Nat walking over, with Clint behind her. Natasha was eyeing her warily, unsure about her slight sway. Was she swaying? It was hard to tell. _Or maybe Nat is the one swaying…_ She giggled softly to herself, as Clint asked, "Is she- is she drunk?"

Natasha grabbed her head and held her face still, staring into her eyes. _Is she about to kiss me?_ Her hand dropped a moment later as she replied, "Yup, drunk."

"She says someone spiked her drink." Bucky explained.

"Well, that's the only obvious answer. Why would she purposely drink if she hated her father doing it?" Clint answered.

"Hey," she snapped her fingers. "I'm still here." They shouldn't talk about her problems like that - it's not nice! She found her offence wavering as she swayed a little too far to the left and Bucky's strong hand on her arm was the only thing keeping her stable.

"What do we do?" Nat asked.

"I wan' home," she slurred. She didn't really. She just didn't want to be drunk at a party with all of these people.

"We'll take you home," Bucky promised.

Nat nodded. "I'll help get her to her house, and Clint can stay here. You should warn the others that there's someone spiking punch. It seems to be specific; not just the whole bowl. I just drank a bunch and I feel fine."

"'S like Sherlock," she mumbled as Natasha made her 'deductions.'

"Will do," Clint snickered. "Sherlock."

"Fuck off, Watson," Nat rolled her eyes. "Let's get going if we want to have her home by midnight."

She had one hand on each arm as they walked in the direction of her house. _Like having bodyguards,_ she thought with a smile.

She continued to stumble over her own feet, because the concrete beneath her was inexplicably doing the worm. Looking at her feet involved a lot of tripping, while looking straight ahead involved high steps that likely looked ridiculous. _How could Papa like this?_ It was mostly a lot of embarrassment that she was sure would haunt her for a long time coming.

Thinking about Papa made her head spin a different direction. The jagged cracks in the concrete made her feel a little sick as she walked over them. How would he react to her underage drinking? Logically, she shouldn't be punished because she was the victim in this scenario. He didn't seem to do much logical thinking these days, however.

They were at a house, and Bucky rapped softly on the door. _Oh,_ she thought slowly. _It's my house._ Thank god she had her reserved filter still, keeping her thoughts safely locked away from escaping out her mouth.

The door opened, and she yelled, "Pietro!"

He looked at her weirdly. "Sush, Papa's asleep. I thought you were all at a party? Why are you back so early? Weren't you sleeping over at-"

 _Man, he asked a lot of questions!_

Natasha cut him off, with "Someone spiked her drink. She's drunk."

His eyes widened, and understanding dawned on him. "Okay," he looked back at the couch, where Papa had likely crashed for the night. "Thanks for bringing her home."

"No problem," Bucky said. "You can take her from here?"

"Yeah," Pietro gently guided her inside.

She could have sworn Bucky seemed a little reluctant to let her go, but it was probably just her crazy, fogged up brain playing tricks on her. Just like how the walls and the floor decided to switch.

"M' hungry." She whined quietly as he guided her in the direction of her room. One coherent thought that managed to stick was _don't wake Papa._

He nodded, "I bet you drank on an empty stomach, didn't you?"

"I didn't really plan this!" She smacked him on the arm. Reaching for a door, she opened it slowly. "Is this my room?"

He laughed, as she exposed the little linen closet..

"No, Wanda." He directed her to the door at the end of the hall. "That one's yours." He was laughing softly now, which she found highly rude. "I'm going to kill whoever did this to you, but it's a little funny."

She walked over to her bed, and flopped down dramatically. "I'm not tired. I'm hungry."

He threw a blanket over her shoulders as she sat against the wall, facing him. "I'll get you something. Just stay here so you don't fall on your face."

She nodded, thinking that was a good idea.

* * *

 _Pietro's POV_

 _If he had videotaped Wanda opening up the linen closet, he was sure they could've become internet famous. Even better, was that had he not stopped her she probably would have curled up and fallen asleep in there. Every brother's dream was for their sibling to wake up amongst a bunch of towels with no idea how they got there. If he set up a camera for when she would've woke up… No, she didn't deserve that tonight. He'd save it for when she got wasted by her own free will. Plus, she would probably be feeling pretty sick tomorrow and he wanted her as close to the bathroom as possible._

 _As he grabbed the box of frosted animal crackers, he reviewed his own sibling code._

 _Had she done this of her own accord in an act of teenage rebellion, well, he wouldn't let this go for days. Hell, this would be a story for the grandchildren. 'Hey kids, listen to the time crazy Nana Wanda tried to sleep in a linen closet…' Drawing a moustache on her would be fun, and the photo opportunities once she fell asleep would be endless._

 _However, she hadn't done this on purpose. It hadn't been her fault in any way, or a lesson-learned type of deal. She was innocent. A victim. This spurred his brotherly protectiveness into overdrive, as he seethed at whoever had done this. What if it had been some older creep looking for an easy target to hit? The situation could have been much worse had she not found her friends as soon as she realized what had happened._

 _So he carried the box back to her room, stopping in his and Papa's shared bathroom to search the medicine cabinet for some aspirin. It wasn't hard - that was pretty much all that was in there. He also filled a glass of water, since he was feeling generous._

 _He knocked on her door lightly to alert her of his presence, but there was no answer._

 _He pushed it open and saw she had fallen asleep, where she sat against the wall. He set the crackers down, with the fleeting thought of how he was the only sober one in the house._

 _He placed the aspirin and bottled water on the nightstand, and gently moved her to where she was laying down under the covers. "Goodnight, sis."_

 _To his surprise, she stirred a little. He hadn't meant to wake her up._

 _She blinked her eyes open just a peep, mumbling, "Don't tell Papa."_

Don't tell Papa? _What did that mean? He decided to store that thought for later, because there was no use asking her now, as she was already asleep. "I won't," he promised even though she couldn't hear. She probably had her reasons._

 _He would be lying if he said he hadn't noticed the tensions between her and Papa in the house. She avoided him like the plague most of the time, and when she was with him she was too quiet._

 _She was probably angry with him for how he was handling things. They'd all lost Mama, but two out of three were_ not _drowning themselves in booze. Sometimes he felt a twinge annoyed with Papa too, but he tried to be sympathetic._

* * *

Wanda's POV

Waking up the next morning was one of the most unpleasant things she had ever done.

 _Ugh._

The first coherent thought to pierce through her head was that she was undeniably and uncontrollably about to vomit. She raced to her bathroom and leant over the bowl. Thankfully, there wasn't much that could come up since she hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon.

Going back to her bedroom, she looked at her nightstand. On top of it lay her charging phone, and resting next to it was an aspirin and a glass of water. Pietro was so thoughtful. At least, she assumed it was him. She downed the pill and sipped some water slowly. The time was 11:02, meaning she had slept in much later than her usual wake-up time. It was a Sunday, however, so she didn't much care. The next thing was her notifications, overflowing with text messages.

Jane: _Heard you got spiked! U ok?_

Tony: _How was your teenage rebellion? Underage drinking is a little outdated, but oh well. (Seriously, sorry abt that)_

Bruce: _U ok?_

Pepper: _What happened? Who did it?_

She texted some of them back, and mostly they were responses like "Glad you're okay!" or "Feel better!" Some of them were a little more deadly (especially Darcy's and Nat's) and said things like "I will murder whoever did this."

The _who_ in the whole debacle was certainly a good question. Though she couldn't remember much from last night after being at the top of the stairs, the spiking obviously took place prior to that.

Who had she seen while holding her drink, that didn't like her? Obviously none of her friends had done it. Loki popped into her mind, but he hadn't even gone near her when she had her punch. Not to mention, she couldn't think of a motive for him doing it. If he wanted to spike some punch, Darcy and her sudden wave of unwavering faith in him would've been easier.

A sinking suspicion hit, and she remembered the one person who she had run into the party that had most certainly not been welcome. _Hela._

The thought had made her sick. Sure, she'd been a total bitch ever since Wanda had met her, but she didn't think she would be so dangerous.

A text from another friend of hers chimed, making her headache spin and causing her to lose her train of thought. Bucky: _So, how's the hangover?_

After finally being smart enough to turn her screen's brightness _way_ down, she typed back, _It sucks._

The dots appeared, before _Sry :/ U remember who did it so I can kill them?_

She smiled at how protective her friends were being over her. It was a nice feeling, to be safe. To have the same comfort in her own home would be wishful thinking.

Before she could forget, she told him, _I'm 99% sure it was Hela._

 _Well, unfortunately I'm not going to beat up a girl. I'll just sick Darcy on her ass,_ he replied back quickly.

The rational part of her brain made her want to tell him not to, but her pounding headache led her to not care. They could kill Hela if they wanted. In fact, good riddance. The girl had really been a pain ever since Wanda had gotten to Marvel High. She didn't have a reason for it, either!

Thinking about her hatred for the girl made her headache worsen, so she tried to distract herself. Pietro's Sunday morning television binge sounded like the perfect way to do that.

She walked into the living room with a soft blanket wrapped around herself, and sat next to him on the couch.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Awful."

He smiled lightly at her. "Thought so. Do you remember who did it?"

"I think it was Hela." She told him. "I'd rather not think about it right now."

"Fair enough," he said. Although the look in his eye as he watched her closely made her think he wanted to ask her something else. Thankfully, he refrained.

She grabbed the remote and pulled up Netflix, causing him to stare at her. "What?" she asked innocently, knowing perfectly well why he was freaking out.

"I thought Papa said to delete that."

She gave him a serious look. "I don't have to listen to everything Papa says." He looked highly confused, as she had been going out of her way lately to please him. This act of rebellion was uncharacteristic of her.

His mouth gaped open like a fish, and she couldn't help laughing. Giving up the act, she explained, "Relax, Pietro. Tony gave me his Netflix password."

He smiled, shaking his head at her. "That makes more sense."

They watched some of The Fosters, and she couldn't help but cringe when the adoptive siblings were forging a romantic relationship. Sure, they were adopted, but it was still questionably incestuous. She looked to her own brother next to her, and her disgusting thoughts were confirmed. Kissing her twin? Ew!*

He broke the silence that had covered them when they started watching, by saying bluntly, "I think I'm going to dye my hair."

She blinked. "What?"

"I want to die my hair."

This was news to her. When had he come up with this? "What color?"

"I want to dye it silver, but leave the roots brown."

 _That sounds… Pretty cool, actually._ She nodded approvingly. "That's nice. When?"

He raised a brow at her. "You approve?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's not like you're getting a tattoo, or anything like that. It's up to you."

He smiled, "Tomorrow after school."  
She nodded, thinking pensively. She'd always wanted to do something different with her own hair. The long brown locks had started to bore her, and she craved a change. Doing her makeup to conceal the bruises multiple times every day left her staring in the mirror for much longer than she ever had in the past. Her reflection was growing dull in her eyes. "Could I come? I want to get something different as well."

"Sure," he answered.

* * *

Waking up Monday morning was a relief. Her hangover had disappeared yesterday afternoon, but she had fallen asleep paranoid that she would wake up groggy again.

It was definitely safe to say she wouldn't be voluntarily drinking in the near future.

She was welcomed back by all of her friends, and she prayed there would be no run-ins with Hela today. She didn't _really_ have enough evidence to accuse her of spiking her punch, just a gut feeling and a conveniently-timed meeting with her at the party.

She felt back to her normal self, and since she'd spent Saturday at the party and Sunday with Pietro, Papa hadn't had a chance to get to her at all.

She felt refreshed, and was chipper all the way through biology. Her mood was only heightened as Ms. May handed her their poster back, with a big _A_ stamped across the top. She showed Bucky, who smiled but didn't seem all that impressed. This was exciting, damnit!

Was this how Darcy felt all the time? Her friend's quirky character started to make sense now.

The day seemed to pass by quickly, and for some reason she didn't really see much of her friends until lunch. "Has anyone seen Hela yet today?" Darcy was grinding her fist into her hand.

"Um," Tony watched her with an amused expression. "No… I haven't."

"I'm going to kill her." Pepper said determinedly.

Wanda shook her head. "No one is killing anyone. I don't care - we won't sink to her level."

"Nope," Sam said. "We'll sink further, straight into homicide."

She sighed, knowing it was unlikely they would give up. A sight caught her eye that would have surprised her several days ago, but not much could shock her after such a weekend. Loki was standing by their table, looking unsure.

"Um, hi." She was the first to notice him.

The entire table turned, and conversation came to a halt. Everyone watched Loki with eagle eyes, until Bruce scooted over and patted the seat next to him. Casually some of them went back to talking while others, Wanda included, kept gaping at the boy.

Darcy patted him on the back, saying, "We were just talking about murdering Hela."

"Murder, huh?" he asked with a smirk. "Thor has a place to hide the bodies should we succeed."

Thor glared at him, "For the last time, Loki! Your hamster died of old age!"

She confusedly looked back and forth between her friends, realizing that this must have been how it was before the falling out with Loki. Apparently sarcastic asshole was just Loki's default personality, and it seemed much more good-natured now than when she'd met him on her first day. She also learned that Frosty the hamster had been left in Thor's care for a few days when he mysteriously died. The exchange between then suddenly made more sense.

After school, she went with Pietro to get her hair dyed. She'd spent half an hour looking through the catalogs to see what she wanted. Finally, something had caught her eye. One of the models had some subtle, red streaks through her brown hair that stood out just enough. While she new her hair would never be as unrealistically silky and wavy as the model's, she could see her straight hair looking nicer with it.

After the hairdresser had spun her around, she gasped. It was exactly what she had wanted! The beautiful red streaks were more prominent than she had expected, but it worked well.

When she saw Pietro, and his insanely cool silver tips, she smiled.

"That looks nice," he complimented her.

She couldn't resist, "You look like a q-tip." At his grumble, she laughed. "Only kidding! It looks great."

"Good. I almost had to tell you that you look like Lava Girl."

"I only got a few little streaks!" she argued. In no way did she resemble Lava Girl.

When most people think of fear, they think of the dark. Or spiders, or heights. Fear is an unpleasant reaction in the amygdala that tells you when you should take caution. All her life she had experienced little fears, such as before public speaking, or standing in line for the biggest rollercoaster at the park. For the most part, Wanda was confident in herself and her surroundings. Thus, it came such a shock that she would find herself awake in the late hours of night, huddled under the blankets, praying that she would be safe, because of the one person in her life that she should _always_ have been able to trust. Wanda Maximoff was terrified of her own father.

She had seen the look he gave her when she walked through the door, with her different hair and a proud smile. He looked furious, disgusted even. Truthfully, in the deciding of the change, his reaction hadn't even been considered. He'd been so absent from her life recently, only showing up to use her as a punching bag on occasion, that she felt he no longer got a say.

His adverse reaction had apparently been limited to her, as he ruffled Pietro's new colored locks in a show of affection.

Even with her brother sleeping down the hall, she was afraid he would come in to punish her. At some point he would, and she was just beginning to heal from the last one. It was really just a matter of when.

She couldn't hide forever, and they both knew it.

He did. It wasn't that night, or even the next morning as she left early with Pietro. Tuesday afternoon she hung out at Jane's with some of the gang and didn't get back until well after she was sure Pietro would be home.

It was Wednesday morning, when she accidentally overslept her brother's departure time, and couldn't rush out of the house fast enough. She'd hoped he would have forgotten about her new style choice, or better yet he'd already left for work.

She was wrong.

"I don't like it." He said from the kitchen table.

She stopped dead in her tracks, turning to face him. "Like what?" She had to be careful not to remind him of her hair if that's not what he was referring to.

"You look like a prostitute." He must have been talking about her hair, because she was wearing dark wash jeans and her usual red jacket, which had never been a problem before.

"My hair?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, the hair!" He growled angrily, dropping the plate holding his toast. She winced as it shattered. "Undo it!"

"I can't!" she argued, knowing it was futile. "It will wash out in a few weeks, and then I won't redo it. I promise."

"You should have asked me in the first place." He stomped towards her, grabbing a fistful of her hair and tugging on it hard. "This little teenage rebellion thing you've got going on here… I don't like it, not one bit! Why can't you just be like your brother?!"

He barked these things at her, and she shrunk in on herself. She _was_ being more like Pietro lately. She was barely home, either at soccer or with friends. She was working hard on grades. He had dyed his hair, too!

He punched her swiftly in the gut, and she groaned as she doubled over. Her legs were kicked out from under her, and she fell to the floor.

Picking herself up slowly as he walked away, she tried to remind herself why she was putting up with this.

 _Pietro._

She couldn't let their only living parent become a villain in her brother's eyes. She had to protect him. He'd protected her so much their whole lives, and it was time to return the favor. If they were separated in foster care… she couldn't live without him. As long as Papa wasn't hurting her twin, she would put up with him pushing her around. She just had to keep her priorities straight, and hope Papa got over this violent phase. In a few years, she could go to college. She could escape.

 **Hope you guys like it :) What do you think of Wanda's rationale for not telling anyone about her abuse? I tried to keep it realistic, and give her actual reasons for not telling anyone. Also: an important message is that this is only a story! If you are actually suffering from abuse I urge you to talk to someone you trust and get yourself to safety! If any of my readers ever need anyone to talk to I'm only one message away.**

 ***Ew: This is referencing how in the comics, Pietro and Wanda had a little incest-y thing going on.**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **MaximoffFangirl~ CHARGE!**

 **Mcduffie145~ Thank you! I initially struggled with writing Bucky/Wanda, but I think it's going well so far.**

 **Lainiebot~ I KNOW RIGHT!? And Bucky's hair was pretty fabulous. One thing I can't stop thinking about was the person behind me in the theater who whispered "He looks like Jesus." I can't unsee it now, so yep. Makes it that much better. I like the relationship they teased between Bucky and Shuri (T'Challa's sister) however she is sixteen and Bucky's biological age is about 30 according to the mcu wiki. So that's just slightly illegal…. He could use a little sis to look after though, like how Tony has Peter.**

 **Amora~ I loved Shuri and T'Challa's relationship. It was awesome! Definitely the best sibling relationship since… well… you know. MOVING ON. Thank you! I really wanted the Bucda to go well, and so far it seems like it's well-received. I will have to take a selfie with my Uncle next time I see him now! I'm glad you're stumped on Loki's intentions, because that's what I was going for 100%. Sometimes I'll accidentally write him one way then be like… wait no… And you've gotta be kitten me right meow. I love puns! But that was paw-sitively terrible, go jump off a meowntain. Once my uncle (not the CP one) and my brother were making sucky food puns while we were eating, so I picked up a piece of olive bread and said "All of you are bread to me." I won.**

 **M~ Thank you! Hope you like this chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, so the inactivity has been killing me! But you know… Real life… I've got all the horses to work and school and a billion other things people have been bugging me to do. Too many different parts of my life right now all demanding different things! It's short but the update I've needed to post for a while.**

-Chapter 13-

She hadn't meant to, but the door to his room was creaked open and she just really needed his stapler to organize her homework. In hindsight, she should have knocked regardless. But it wasn't her fault that her twin brother was prancing around his room with only a towel around his waist. It was a second before he noticed her, standing in the doorway snickering as he sashayed over to throw his dirty clothes in the laundry basket.

"WANDA, KNOCK FIRST!" He hiked the towel up further as he sent her a glare.

"Sorry, sorry!" She covered her eyes and backed out of the room quickly. She stood outside while he hopefully dressed himself.

He opened the door a second later, wearing sweats and a tank top. "What do you want?" He asked, slightly disgruntled.

It was very, very wrong of her to feel this way. But it was with a twinge of jealousy that she noticed his bare shoulders and arms, completely void of welts or bruises. She knew if she removed her long-sleeve shirt she would see her own body covered in the angry marks. Thank god it was November, and the chilly weather allowed her to wear clothes with coverage.

If the physical appearance was hard to cover up, the pain she was in was much worse. Her body ached all the time. Papa had definitely bruised a rib the other night, and it was hard to move without jarring it.

The only way she could think of to avoid the terrors she went home to in the evenings, was to throw herself one hundred percent into everything else.

"You actually wrote the essay?" Darcy asked her while they were sitting in English.

"Yes," Wanda said slowly. Was it so uncharacteristic of her? She wasn't a bad student - she normally did the homework.

"Seriously?" Darcy looked incredulous.

Wanda nodded again.

Jane simply rolled her eyes. "Not everyone's a D student like you, Darcy."

"Hey!" The glasses-wearing girl looked offended. "I am a solid C-."

Wanda laughed, stapling the papers together. Darcy was smart - really smart. She just didn't find school all that important. If she actually ever applied herself, she could get straight A's. But that just wasn't her style.

Jane flipped through Wanda's stack. "This is long! You really went for it. Good job."

Wanda smiled as she picked up a hint of jealousy in her friend's tone. Jane was notorious for her long essays. Wanda had managed to type up a whopping ten pages, whereas Jane had only written seven. The thought made her a little smug, even though she hadn't been trying to be competitive about it. Honestly, the longer she spent on the essay the longer she could lock herself in the protection of her room.

"Maybe she has a crush on Mr. Ward!" Darcy nearly shouted. A few heads near them turned, and Wanda hushed her friend.

"I do not!" She hissed at her, "Keep your voice down!"

"You're totally in love with Mr. Ward." Darcy was ecstatic that she had 'cracked the case.'

"And you're totally nuts." Wanda elected to ignore the teasing that was sure to go on for days now. She did _not_ like Mr. Ward. Sure, he was cute, but every girl at Marvel High thought the same. And she'd had enough of older men creeping on her in their neighborhood. "Maybe I just happen to like Romeo and Juliet."

"No one does!" Darcy cried. "It sucks! I've had longer relationships with guys I've met at the gas station! And if he had actually stuck around for _five more minutes_ then he would've seen that she was alive! I wouldn't kill myself over any of my gas station boyfriends, either."

Wanda kind of wanted to ask how many gas station boyfriends Darcy had had, and how often she went to the gas station to scout out dates. It certainly wouldn't be her first choice of locations to find a date. She kept her mouth shut, however, as the class started and the essays collected. Or in Darcy's case, lack of. She pretended not to see Darcy's smug looks every time she was called on, or when he complimented her on her work.

She was getting better at hiding her injuries during soccer. She could play through the pain. When she was on the field, in the midst of an intense game, the pain in her ribs and bruises faded to only a little twinge in the back of her mind.

She played hard, careful to work with her teammates and not try to dominate the field. They were stronger together than they were individually. Unfortunately, Hela didn't quite get that message.

It ended up costing them the game against DC High. Hela had gained possession of the ball and was heading straight for the goal. Two opposing defense players got in front of her, and instead of passing it to Pepper, who was wide open and in perfect position to make the winning shot, she tried to evade them. Needless to say, she failed.

"Hela, I want you to work more on teamwork. This isn't a one-man game." Coach Hill instructed during practice.

"That's because we're all girls." One of the other girls giggled. A few laughs went up, but Wanda didn't think it was all that funny.

"Funny," Coach Hill rolled her eyes. "I want you to get into groups of three, and we're going to all play against each other. I'm going to make the first one: Hela, Jane, and Wanda."

Wanda internally groaned, and fought the urge to do so outwardly. This had to be the worst idea in the history of ideas.

They moved to one side together, and Hela sneered at them.

Several other teams were made, and then Hill put some little portable goals up in a large circle. One of the girls dragged out the cart filled with pennies, and each team got a different color.

Their group was purple. Wanda and Pepper, who was wearing a yellow penny, shared a look of desperation. There were three of them, and Coach Hill had made groups of three, but somehow replacing Pepper in their group was Hela of all people.

"Alright, so we're having a four-way soccer game. All the same rules still apply, but it's going to get a little chaotic. I will make calls if anyone is unsure. The goal is to have the best team working together. Winners get into the locker room the change fifteen minutes early, and everyone else has to do drills. Go!"

Pepper's group had the ball first, but it was quickly taken by Jane. Jane passed it reluctantly to Hela, who started running it towards one of the goals. She kicked in in successfully.

The ball was given to them and they started out. Hela maneuvered the ball skillfully around two players attempting to steal it, and aimed for the same goal she'd done before. Several players blocked her off, and Wanda positioned herself alongside her. If Hela kicked the ball sideways to her, she could evade the defense and be right in line with the goal.

Wanda stood there for a fraction of a second, wondering if Hela hadn't seen her. "Here!" She called out, losing the element of surprise but it was better than nothing. If she kept stalling they would definitely lose possession.

Hela glanced at her, but remained where she was. Then, she made a split second decision and ran with it towards Wanda, aiming for the goal herself. The defenses blocking her had time to react and got in the way, blocking her shot and running with it towards another goal.

As Hela moved the ball around her, Wanda muttered under her breath, " _It's not like I'm on your team or anything."_

"Hela!" Ms. Hill snapped. "You need to cooperate with your teammates. You guys could have made that."

Gameplay resumed, and Hela only accepted the pointers with a grumble. She didn't incorporate it into her strategy, and they ended up losing.

She became so involved with school work, soccer, and her friends, that before she could even blink Thanksgiving break was upon them.

Leaving school that Monday had been a blessing, because they had the next week to do whatever. She could relax.

Of course, she needed excuses to get out of the house. There was no way she was going to spend the break with Papa and his abuse. She busied herself by going to Jane's, and outings with her friends. She spent a _lot_ of time at the mall with Darcy, Jane, and Pepper. Nat sometimes came too, but you could only drag the redhead into so many clothing and beauty stores until she starts complaining. Wanda never had money to buy anything, but it was fun to try stuff on, or look wistfully at the clothes in the windows that she could never afford. She didn't need expensive things - she didn't really even want them - but she wished she didn't have to look at the price tags when shopping at Goodwill.

The day before Thanksgiving, she went out shopping. She couldn't afford much, but she'd gotten a twenty off a dare with Tony over who could chug the most rootbeer, so she figured she could treat her broken family to a little Thanksgiving spirit.

She couldn't get a turkey, or even a chicken, but she'd always considered it dry anyways. Instead she got a can of stuffing, a can of cranberry jelly (because it was her and Pietro's favorite), and a discount pumpkin pie. It wasn't much, but it was something.

When she got home, she was excited to see Pietro not back yet. She could hide the stuff and surprise him tomorrow.

"What is this?" Papa asked gruffly from behind her, almost causing her to drop the stuffing box.

She wheeled around, calming her nerves. She had done something nice - he wouldn't punish her for that. He was always telling her to be a better daughter. "I bought a few things for dinner tomorrow. I just thought we might want to celebrate a bit."

He glared down at her, before turning to get a beer from the fridge. "Where'd you get the money?"

"It was mine. I made a bet with a friend." Her voice was stronger. He wasn't drunk yet, which meant he likely wouldn't get physical with her for now. And Pietro was due home in fifteen minutes, so she could get through today without any new bruises.

He looked at the bag, and at her, and back at the bag. "You shouldn't have spent that money."

She spluttered, "I just thought-"

"You thought wrong!" He raised his voice, but brought it back down. He was only a few sips in - impulse control was still slightly functioning. "We need to save money now."

She furrowed her brow, but straightened it out. She didn't want to look disrespectful. "Why's that?" she asked casually, as if asking about the weather.

"I got fired." He shrugged as he said it, taking a swig.

Her blood ran cold as he bestowed this information on her so nonchalantly, like it was just passing conversation. Her breath quickened. They needed that money. It was their only source of income. Without it, they would starve. It had already been so little - they did most of their shopping at dollar tree, and still hadn't paid most of their bills. Now they had nothing to live off of.

She could see Papa giving her a weird look, bordering on annoyed. She struggled to control her harsh breathing, not wanting to agitate him further. Once she had collected herself, she cleared her throat. "So, um, what are we going to do?"

"We?" he asked, raising his brow.

She stayed quiet, not sure how to respond.

"I've already had a job. I want you and Pietro to start working."

She froze, stopping what she was doing. _What the hell?_ It was his responsibility to provide for them, not hers. And Pietro already had a part-time job and was helping out. Was he expected to take a full-time one?

None of this was making any sense, but he didn't seem that drunk. He was never completely sober - this was about as close to it got.

Great, now she had another thing to think about.

Thanksgiving day passed quickly. Pietro was ecstatic over their little "feast." He cheered and hugged her, calling her the best sister ever. She thought it was a bit of an overreaction for a can of cranberry jelly, stuffing, sandwiches, and a pie. But as she enjoyed the pumpkin pie, she felt happier than she'd felt at home in a long time. Looking around her, Pietro was digging in to his second slice with as much vigor as the first. Papa was chewing his slowly, with a content smile on his face. It seemed wrong that he'd beaten her for spending money on it when he enjoyed it so much. But he was happy for the moment, and only on his second beer of the day so she was pleased.

After finishing the second slice, Pietro said, "We should say what we're thankful for."

Wanda nodded, passing the pie to him as he clearly wanted another piece. "Alright," she said. At seeing the pointed look from Papa, she knew where she was expected to start. "I am thankful for Papa, and everything he does for us. I know times have been hard since Mama's passing but he's been there through it all. I love you, Papa."

He shot her a fake yet sincere-looking smile and she gave him one back. He was really making sure they put on quite the show for Pietro.

But she wanted to pretend they were a normal family, and meals together like this happened every night. So she continued, "I am also very thankful for Pietro, for being there for me. Love you, bro. And I am extremely thankful for all of the friends I have made at Marvel High."

Papa went next, saying a simple, "I am thankful for my healthy and happy two children, the roof we live under, and the food on this table."

 _He wasn't so happy about it yesterday._

Pietro finished, with "I am thankful for my family, Papa and Wanda. Papa for working hard to keep this family going. And Wanda for exploiting her friendships with rich people to buy this pie." He shot her a teasing smile.

"The bet was his idea!" She defended. "I just happened to pick the right odds."

"I'm also thankful for my friends: Sharon, Rhodey, and Carol. They're pretty great. I'm thankful for the football team. I'm thankful for everything, especially this pie!" He finished with a flourish as he got started on his third piece.

She smiled, thinking back to Thanksgivings right after they had moved to their spacious New York apartment from Sokovia. When they were a normal family, with Mama.


	14. Chapter 14

**Finally, another chapter! I hope to get the next one out by Wednesday or Thursday, but I've got a BIG horsemanship clinic (I'm going to be riding my new filly, a bucking colt, and who knows what else!) that's going to take up the entirety of my weekend. Should be fun but exhausting!**

 **I also pre-ordered my tickets for Infinity War, so I'll be seeing it opening night! I'm so excited but I'm also going to die! My family also has no idea how much of a Marvel geek I am, so hopefully no one will die so I don't have to start bawling in the theater. Wishful thinking, I know…**

-Chapter 14-

After Thanksgiving, life resumed normality for the Maximoff family. Papa bummed around with a beer all day. Pietro returned to almost daily football practices. Wanda went back to school with her friends, avoiding Papa's wrath, and stressing about the future.

The only thing new, was the announcement of Pepper and Tony's relationship. They'd kept it under wraps for a few weeks until they knew it wasn't just some fling, and Wanda kept her mouth shut the whole time. It seemed wrong to spill their secret, especially since dating within a group of friends could be risky. She'd learned that back in New York. When they made the announcement, there were mixed reactions. Clint's was "Ew," as he joked about how Pepper could do better than that, while Steve was ecstatic for his friends. The rest were varied in-between, but nobody seemed seriously opposed to the idea. In a group of friends this large, it was expected for some of them to couple up apparently.

Wanda remained silent with a little smirk on her face throughout the announcement. "Wanda, what do you think?" Pepper had prodded. She was obviously very concerned about whether or not her friends would approve.

"I already knew," she answered simply, laughing as Tony went slack-jawed.

"What- how?" Pepper sputtered, at a loss. "We kept it hidden so well…"

Wanda shook her head. "Sam's birthday party, in the theater."

Pepper laughed, shaking her head exasperatedly. "And you knew the whole time…" It was a silent thanks for not ratting them out, which she received with a nod.

Actually, there was something else different, too: a new student arrived at Marvel High. She was sitting in her history class, which was rather lonely because the only friend in there was Darcy, who sat at the opposite end of the room. Often times they would text under the nose of their teacher, the rather old-looking Ms. Weaver. Her boredom was officially broken when an unfamiliar boy walked in fifteen minutes late.

She was the first to notice him, watching intently as Ms. Weaver's old ears had not yet detected the footsteps. He shuffled his feet, waiting to be seen. Hesitantly, he cleared his throat. "Hey, I'm new here." He greeted, and everyone's head turned. He had dirty blonde hair, almost brown but not quite. His eyes were green, but skewed by the thick glasses covering them. Somehow, he didn't look nerdy but actually kind of cute.

Ms. Weaver, startled out of her dull lecture on American history, stared at him for a moment before looking at the roll. "You must be Justin. Please, take a seat next over there next to Wanda."

He looked, and Wanda waved a hand to clue him in the right direction. He walked over and sat down.

"Wanda?" He asked, his voice lowered so as not to disturb the class. "Nice to meet you."

"You as well," she smiled at him. He got out a notebook and started taking notes. It wasn't required to in this class, but a few of the more ambitious students chose to do so. Occasionally Wanda would jot something down if it was important, but study guides were available on the class website that she just went over before the tests.

He was quiet until Ms. Weaver gave them time to do some partner studying for the upcoming exam in the textbook.

"Okay," Wanda began. "What was the Tenure of Office Act?"

He smiled. "That's easy. All the president's acts had to pass through army headquarters."

"Good," she commented. "Which presidential candidate sparked the creation of this law?"

"Johnson." He fiddled with his pencil. He was smart - he must have come from a good school.

She decided to ask him.

"Actually, I was homeschooled. My mom decided to put me in public school to get the whole experience, but I liked the freedom."

She nodded. "I used to be homeschooled when I lived in Sokovia. I much prefer going to school with all of my friends, though. Even if school itself is prison."

He laughed warmly. "You're funny."

"Thank you," she blushed. What the hell? He was cute, and she was single. At the rate she'd been going, it didn't look like she was ever going to score any dates. So what was the harm?

They talked a bit more between study points, and she found herself getting along with him pretty easily. All too soon, the bell rang.

* * *

"Okay, so what should we watch?" Jane asked as she scrolled through the titles on Netflix.

It was a Friday movie night, and after taking two finals today Wanda was so ready to relax for the weekend. Spending it at Jane's with her friends, away from the stress of her house, would be exactly what she needed. She was currently settled on the couch, between Bucky and Darcy. Next to Darcy, whom Wanda was still getting used to, was Loki.

"We should watch Harry Potter!" Darcy suggested excitedly.

"We watched that last time," Loki pointed out.

"The third one. Now we have to watch the fourth." Darcy was adamant.

Everyone in the group sighed. Darcy's obsession with the series had already led to them watching the entirety of the movies - twice. "Fine," Jane gave in. "Harry Potter, but what else?"

 **Darcy**

 _Tony and Pepper got back from their snack run just in time for voting, as they set down two large bags full of junk food. It was with a satisfied smirk that she noticed Pepper's flushed cheeks and smeared lip gloss. At first she wasn't too sure about her friends dating, but as the opportunities for teasing increased she found herself warming up to it._

" _Get any kisses, Pep?" She couldn't resist asking._

" _Wh- what?" Pepper stuttered, turning the shade of her hair. "I don't know what you're talking about."_

" _Kisses!"_

" _I'm not sure-"_

 _Darcy pretended to look confused. "Like, the chocolate? What did you think I meant?"_

 _Pepper rolled her eyes, shooting her a glare as she tossed a bag of the chocolates to her._

 _Loki snickered next to her, and she offered him some of the loot. He accepted it gratefully._

 _His return was a welcome presence, at least in her eyes. She hadn't realized it when she was making fun of him after leaving, but she had really missed having him around. He was a bit different from the other boys in the group - he didn't worry about appearances so much. It was inside that mattered to him._

"Let's play truth or dare!" Thor exclaimed, seemingly unable to turn off his booming voice even in the early hour of three a.m.

"Sure, why not?" Bucky said, sitting up slightly from his relaxed position on the couch. Wanda did the same.

"I'll go first," Tony offered. "Wanda, truth or dare?"

He caught her off-guard, as she was trying to adjust herself so she didn't hurt. "Erm-" she didn't really want to spill her guts or anything, so she went with "dare."

He thought for a second. "Take a pickle juice shot."

She stared at him, not really sure how he thought of it, or _why…_ She kind of wanted to bash his face in right then.

"That's ruthless," Steve shook his head.

"No mercy!" Tony grinned.

"I'll go get it," Jane got up, and returned a minute later with a shot glass of green liquid.

Wanda took the glass, glaring down at it. She did _not_ want to do this, but with the chorus of "Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" beginning to rise from the group, it seemed she had to. Damn peer pressure.

"Come on, do it!" Tony was clearly getting impatient, and in one motion she took it.

"Jesus," she coughed. Never had she taken a real shot, but it couldn't have been as bad as this. It burned her throat, and even though she usually liked the taste of pickles it made her want to vomit. Bucky patted her on the back as she coughed. "You're dead, Stark." She said once the cheers and laughter died down.

She had the perfect dare, now who to give it to… Sam would be a good candidate. She could also choose Darcy for this one. She turned her head and smiled, landing on the perfect person. "Bucky, truth or dare?"

"Oh, no." He knew what was coming, knew the look on her face was something to fear. "Dare, I guess."

"Prank call a pizza place."

He groaned, but got out his phone. "What do I even say?"

"Make something up."

He gave a look like he was mentally facepalming, before dialling the number for their local pizza parlor. He put it on speaker.

" _Pizza Heaven, how may I help you?"_

"Hi," Bucky said. "How are you today?"

" _Um… good. How are you, sir?"_

"Marvellous. Now, I'm allergic to tomatoes. Do you use any in your sauce?"

" _You mean… The tomato sauce? Yes, but I suppose we could make a pizza without it."_

"Really?" He feigned surprise. "Well, that's a bummer. Oh, well. I guess I'd like a large pizza."

" _What would you like on it?"_

"I would like a none pizza with left beef."

" _One- what?"_

"None pizza, with left beef."

" _So… just the crust, with the beef on the left?"_

"Yes, that is what I said."

They were all struggling not to laugh, as there was obvious mumbling on the other end. " _Sir, I don't think you can do that."_

"Why not?"

" _Well, it's just… I guess we can. Nothing but beef on the left?"_

"Yep."

" _Anything else?"_

"Yes, is your wheat cruelty-free? I'm very specific about animal rights."

" _Uh, I think so."_

Wanda was shaking with silent laughter as he actually completed the order, giving the poor man Jane's address.

The rest of the game went similarly. The pizza man showed up thirty minutes later with the saddest pizza she'd ever seen. They divided it up, and Wanda had grimaced at the fact that her slice didn't even come from the side with beef- just crust. They played until eventually some of them started falling asleep, and then those who were still awake just talked.

The ones still standing were Darcy, Tony, Bucky, and Wanda herself. She was forcing herself to stay awake, because Papa had kicked her in the ribs and laying down hurt at the moment.

"So," Darcy whispered. "Do we keep playing?"

"There's only four of us." Tony rolled his eyes. "It wouldn't be much fun."

"Agreed," Wanda yawned. Oh, how she wished she could sleep.

"Geez, you tired?" Darcy teased. "The party's only just begun."

She looked around at everyone else, crashed. _Some party._ Her and Bucky remained on the couch, while Darcy sat on the floor leaned up against a chair with Loki out cold next to her. Tony sat in the chair.

"You can go to sleep, if you want." Bucky offered. "You don't have to stay up."

"I can't," she answered without thinking. As soon as she said it, she regretted it.

"You an insomniac or something?" Tony asked.

"No," she said, although she should have just answered yes. But it would look weird, because she'd never had a problem sleeping at their movie nights before.

"Then why can't you?" Darcy furrowed her brow. "It's pretty easy - just close your eyes and count some sheep."

An excuse popped into her head, one that made sense and was _almost_ true. "I fell in soccer. I think I bruised a rib or something. I don't want to lay down."

"Really?" asked Bucky. "Dang, you hide pain well."

 _You have no idea._

"Yeah, one time Tony sprained his wrist and cried for two hours." Darcy grinned.

"Hey!" Tony looked offended. "The doctor said it was a very severe sprain and I was little!"

"You were thirteen!"

Wanda half-heartedly listened to their bickering, though she missed most of the story. She was exhausted - they'd had practice for one of their last games today and Coach Hill had really pushed them.

She tried to stifle her yawn but was too late. The animated conversation stopped, but she was too out of it to care that she was the center of attention.

"Just lie down and you won't feel it once you're asleep." Darcy suggested.

"I've tried." She really had. Last night she'd only slept for around two hours because every time she moved the pain jolted her awake.

In the back of her mind, she knew that this should be a turning point. She should be ready to spill the beans and get out of the situation. Hell, she couldn't even _sleep_ now! Where would it end? As much as the common sense part of her brain nagged her, along with all of her pain receptors, the part that loved her family and craved the life she'd had before wouldn't let her. She was stuck.

Bucky adjusted himself on their shared couch, leaning back but propping himself up against the armrest. Before she could register what was happening, his hands were gently coaxing her back, so she lay on top of him.

"Better?" He asked, his voice sounding so much deeper when he was this close.

It propped her up in a way that her ribs weren't touching anything, and he was soft enough that the bruises on her back weren't too painful. "Yes," she answered quietly.

"Then sleep."

Glancing to the side, she could see that Darcy and Tony weren't paying attention to them anymore and were breaking out a deck of cards. Everyone else was asleep. "Okay." She let her heavy eyelids flutter closed and sighed. Finally, she let herself slip away.

* * *

She'd never slept so deeply in her life. Then again, she'd never been so sleep-deprived in her life. When she awoke, some of the others were awake and chatting. Jane, Pepper, and Steve's voices could be heard from the kitchen, making breakfast. She could also hear Ms. Foster upstairs, likely enjoying her coffee and avoiding the rowdy teenagers in her house. The woman was a saint, being adoptive mother to all of her daughter's friends.

"Morning, sleepy."

She'd almost forgotten, and her heart raced as she felt the body underneath her. "Good morning."

"How'd you sleep?"

"Good." Realizing she no longer had a reason to be laying on top of him, she shuffled herself up so she was sitting on the couch. She pretended she didn't miss the warmth. "What time is it?"

"Nine a.m." Darcy said. "I wanted to sleep in, but _someone,"_ she shot a glare at Thor, "kept snoring."

"Sorry," Thor shrugged. He didn't seem too remorseful.

"Try living across the hall from him," Loki muttered.

"Pancakes!" Jane yelled from the kitchen, and everyone flocked to the kitchen. Wanda stood up slowly and followed suit. The other thing she liked about being at Jane's was the constant supply of great food.  
After pancakes, people started going home. Or wherever else they went on a Saturday. Natasha, Jane, Pepper, Darcy, and Wanda were staying at Jane's so they could have some girl time.

After the last of the guys left - they had to forcefully shove Clint outside - they went up to Jane's room to talk.

"How's everything between you and Tony?" Wanda asked Pepper, curious as to how it was working out. She preferred to not have to beat him up, because he was one of her friends, but she would if need be.

"It's going well." Pepper seemed happy.

"Really?" Nat asked. "No trouble dating Mr. Playboy?"

"Ew," both Pepper and Darcy said at the same time.

"Please, never call him that again." Darcy begged.

Pepper nodded, turning red. "We haven't- we're not-"

"Relax!" Nat laughed. "I wasn't implying anything like that."

Jane looked at Pepper. "But does he know that you're not…"

"I _so_ don't want to talk about this." Pepper's face was now two shades darker than her hair. It was a funny sight. At the inquisitive looks, she groaned. "Geez, guys! I explained that I'm not going to have sex! Happy now?!"

Wanda rolled her eyes, satisfied with the answer.

"Just making sure." Jane smirked. "But everything's good?"

"Yes," Pepper rolled her eyes. "Well-"

"Well, what?" Darcy interrupted, listening intently. "Is he a bad kisser or something? I knew all those girls had to be lying."

"No!" Pepper said quickly. "The kissing is… good." Judging by the look on her face, it was more than good. "I just have a hard time trusting him. He's my friend and I trust him; I'm just not sure that I believe him. Does that make sense?"

"That he won't cheat?" Wanda clarified.

"Exactly."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about." Jane said. "But we should set him up, just to make sure."

"Yes!" Darcy's eyes lit up, excited. "Let's do it!"

"How?" Nat asked. "We can't tempt him with any of us. First off, he'd know. Second, he views the rest of us like sisters. There isn't any way he would fall for it."

"We need someone else to do it." Jane smiled.

"Like who?" Pepper asked.

Darcy though for a minute, determined now to make it work. "Jessica?"

"They already went out." Jane pointed out. "It didn't work."

"What about Carol?" Darcy asked.

"Let me ask her." Nat said. "We were biology partners." She pulled out her phone and started typing.

"What about you, Wanda?" Jane pried.

"Anything special going on in Wanda-land?" Pepper was clearly eager to let someone else be interrogated.

"Nothing, really." She couldn't think of anything. Except, for when she had talked to Justin. But that had just been one conversation - it's not like she really liked him or anything.

"I saw you chatting with that new kid." Darcy wiggled her eyebrows teasingly. "And you just slept with Bucky."

She narrowed her eyes, shooting the girl a glare. Obviously it had _not_ been like that. She elected to ignore the second part. "I just talked to Justin once."

That seemed to be good enough. The topic switched, which came as a relief. She was very eager for this conversation to pass the Bechdel test, now.

"Can't soccer be like, a year-round sport?" Jane whined.

Wanda nodded. "It feels like we just made the team, and the season is almost over."

"We're going to kick some DC butt in the tournament, though!" Pepper's competitive streak was showing through, as it always did before a big game.

"Guys, she texted back!" Nat interrupted the sports talk. They crowded around Nat's phone.

"What did she say?" Wanda asked, unable to get close enough to read the message.

"She said she would help us." Jane grinned.

"What are we even going to do?" Pepper asked, a bit skeptical. Wanda felt similarly, but having Darcy on your side for a set-up pretty much guaranteed success.

"We should have Carol start flirting with Tony. It'll have to be when he's alone, because he _definitely_ won't cheat if any of us are watching - maybe when he's walking home or something." Darcy was thinking it up on the spot, her mind whirring so far ahead in the plan that the words coming out of her mouth couldn't keep up with her thoughts. "Yes! She can catch up to him and start chatting him up. If we get him while he's on the street closest to his house, then we can hide behind those bushes next to the path."

They all looked at each other. "Okay, I guess that's the plan." Jane smiled.

"What if- what if he doesn't pass?" Pepper was uncertain.

Jane put a hand on her shoulder. "Then he's a dirty cheater and doesn't deserve you."

* * *

The plan was in action, ready to be carried out once school let out. Once they'd realized that they would have to get there before him to spy, Wanda had texted Bucky to ask if he could occupy Tony for a few minutes while they got in position. He had, of course, agreed.

Darcy's foot was tapping in the back of the classroom, as they sat in Ms. Weaver's overly-boring class.

Wanda, for once, had her lined notebook open on her desk. Her pen occasionally jotted down notes, but it was a rather leisurely task since the elderly teacher's brain formulated words slowly. The semester was nearly over, and she wanted her grades to be as high as she could get them - like, Pepper-level grades. Maybe, just maybe, if Papa saw that she could excel in something, he would be proud of her and leave her alone.

Justin sat next to her, watching her. He had his notebook too, as always, and was looking at her skeptically. She ignored the look, until he slid his book closer to her.

 _You're taking notes, today?_ His nearly-perfect handwriting in the margin was clearly a note for her.

She smirked. Were they seriously passing notes? This wasn't the fourth grade. She wrote back, _Maybe._

 _You never take notes,_ was passed back.

 _I do now._

She was beginning to enjoy this, which she chalked up to the fact that this class was insanely dull.

In a few seconds, he slid the paper back over. _What's up?_

Oh, really. Apparently they were having a whole conversation now. _Not much. You?_

 _Passing notes with the prettiest girl in class._

She blushed. He was new, so she'll give him that, but all he had to do was look around to see that it was untrue. Glancing behind her, she saw a fidgeting Darcy. Even bored out of her mind, glasses askew, and slouched over, she was beautiful. Wanda didn't see herself measuring up.

How to reply? She didn't want to seem like she just wallowed in self-pity, so she wrote _Stop, I'm going to start smiling and look crazy. No one smiles in Ms. Weaver's class._

She looked sideways to see the side of his lips twitch upwards as he read. He passed back, _Haha! I made you smile - mission accomplished._

She couldn't contain it now. She gave a little grin as she scribbled, _Seriously, dude._

She never thought she'd think this way about history, but all too soon the bell rang and it ended. She packed up her stuff and smiled at Justin, before meeting Darcy to walk out.

"You guys looked cozy." Darcy smirked.

"What?" Wanda asked, acting clueless.

"You and Justin!" She rolled her eyes. "Just kiss already."

Wanda blushed for the second time that day. "We've only talked twice, Darcy."

"Ask him out or something!" Darcy insisted. "It's the twenty-first century - we can do

that now."

"Darcy-"

"Watch this-" Darcy grabbed a freshman boy by the sleeve and pulled him over as they walked down the hall. "Do you want to go out with me?"

The boy, with sandy hair and big eyes, gaped at Darcy like a fish. "Um-"

"What, you sexist? Girls can ask guys out too, ya know." Darcy told him.

Wanda felt bad for the boy as he stuttered back, "N-no." Suddenly, his squeaky voice evened out (though still didn't drop and octave), as he more confidently shot back, "You seemed pretty used to it, though. Is that how guys always react when you ask them out?"

Wanda doubled over laughing while Darcy glared. She felt like high-fiving the kid, but at Darcy's hard look, he was already quickly walking away.

"That was amazing." Wanda wiped away a tear. "I like him."

"I don't." She acted offended, and her voice dripped with bitterness. However, the look on her face told a different story - she liked his wit. It was too bad he didn't have the confidence to not run away after.

They quickly met up with Jane and Pepper, going to hide behind the bush. Nat had wanted to come, but she had one of her many martial arts classes to get to.

Situating themselves behind the bush as comfortably as they could, they had Carol walk by to be sure they were unseen.

Wanda glanced at her phone screen as it buzzed.

Bucky: _He's coming._

"He's on his way." She announced, and Carol sprinted to the alley she was going to hide in. They all quieted down, and Wanda texted back a quick _Thank you!_

Five minutes later, Tony cam strolling down the path. His hands were in his pockets, and he had earbuds in. He must've been blasting the music through them, because even from her place in the bush Wanda could hear the bass.

' "Tony, hi!" Carol came jogging up behind him after he'd passed her. She breathed a little harder than normal to make it seem like she had been running for longer than just a few feet.

Wanda hadn't really met Carol until today, but she liked the girl. She was a perfect candidate for the experiment - she was cute, with short blonde hair and bright eyes. She was thin, which tended to be Tony's "type."

"Oh, hey." He said back, pulling out his earbuds and stopping.

"How's it going?" She asked him.

"Um, good." He was clearly unaccustomed to being stopped in the street for a casual conversation.

"Great," Carol breathed. "How is everything going with school."

"It's… good." He did look her up and down, Wanda noticed with a frown, and he seemed to stand up a little straighter.

"I'd expect." Carol giggled. "You're so smart."

"Thank you," Tony answered. He stepped back a little as she went to place a hand on his arm.

"Where are you going?" Carol asked with a pout. She may have been overdoing it, but they told her to go all-out. "Don't you want to talk?"

"About what?" He asked. "I should be getting home."

It was a lie, Wanda knew. He didn't like going home after school, and was never in any hurry. Her hopes soared that he would resist.

"Well, maybe we should meet up sometime?"

Tony squinted his eyes, as understanding dawned on him. "Carol, I have a girlfriend."

Wanda almost cheered, but kept her mouth shut. Carol continued, "She doesn't have to know. It can be our secret!"

Tony shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm with Pepper, now."

Carol turned around and walked off abruptly, and as Tony scratched his head, he turned to do the same.

"See, Pep?" Darcy grinned. "Nothing to worry about." She told her once they were sure he was out of earshot.

* * *

 **This is still Winterwitch/Bucda - I promise! And see, even with this whole Justin thing going on (which will be pretty short-lived), there will still be lots of Wanda x Bucky goodness.**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Amora~ You're welcome! I'm so sorry for the wait! I really hope this chapter is up to standards, but I was just hoping to get something out there. Agree 100% on the school thing! I just did four hours of work and I'm DYING, and I still have at least another hour of geometry. And Pietro can't see the signs because he's a guy, and guys are dumb lol.**

 **Thewritevoice~ Soon!**

 **Guacamole lover~ Well, with the near finding-out in this chapter I hope I didn't frustrate you too much; I can pay for the therapy needed! Not really, I'm so broke lol. Thanks for your understanding!**

 **Maximoff Fangirl~ BECAUSE WE NEED A PLOT IM SORRY OK?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Another chapter, though a bit short! Thank you all for your reviews - they brighten my day. If you guys wouldn't mind taking this little poll I made (either put it in a review or message it to me), that would be awesome!**

 **1) What existing characters would you like to see more of? Including what characters would you like me to go into POV for?**

 **2) Is this going to slow or too fast? I had planned for the WinterWitch to be pretty slow-burn because I kinda like that, but I don't want anyone getting bored.**

 **3) What do you think of the tone? More serious? More humor?**

 **4) What other characters would you like incorporated in at some point? Depending on who you say, it might take a little for me to get to them. Because I've got a list of waiting characters...**

* * *

-Chapter 15-

December in Virginia, for the entire day Wanda had experienced it, was a lot like New York. Fluffy snow coated walkways and benches, and the chilly air sent shivers down one's spine. The only difference was the noise - in the big city, snowfall was accompanied by loud people, cars aggressively trying to get to work (resulting in numerous crashes), and assertive people with signs attempting to get you to buy stuff for the holiday season. In Virginia, there wasn't much of that. The quiet was bliss, and it reminded her more of winters in Sokovia - though here there was much milder weather.

Wanda kicked some of the snow off her boots as she walked into history class. Unfortunately, school had not been cancelled like Tony had so confidently assured them it would be. Fortunately, it gave her time to talk to Justin some more.

She took her seat next to him, and he smiled at her. "Hey," she said.

"Hi," he greeted. "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?"

She laughed. "Absolutely."

They whispered throughout the lesson, Mrs. Weaver's nearly-deaf ears not able to detect them. Wanda grew at ease with him, enjoying their talks.

As they stood up to leave and Wanda went to walk out with Darcy, he stopped her by grabbing her elbow. "Wait," he said. "I have something to ask you."

She quirked her brow, turning back to him. He seemed nervous - after letting go of her, he wrung his hands together. It was rather uncharacteristic of him. Sure, he wasn't usually the epitome of cool and suave, but he did have an air of confidence to him that was now absent. "What is it?" she asked, trying to sound patient. He was nervous, and she didn't want to scare him more.

"Will you go out with me?" he blurted. After he got it out, he visibly relaxed. His eyes followed her face, trying to gauge her reaction.

She almost took a step back, because it was like being smacked in the face. She hadn't expected _that._ Then, she realized that she had to respond. "I, uh-" she spluttered, unsure.

Did she want to go out with him? Yes, she did. He was cute in a dorky way, especially with his thick glasses and dimples. He was nice to her, and had been a good person ever since she'd met him. He had his quirks, but who didn't? She couldn't foresee him treating her badly if they got into a relationship…

"Um," she prepared to say yes. However, her mouth wouldn't cooperate with her mind, Before she knew it, her thoughts were racing down a dark alley, one where they just wouldn't work.

Should she go out with him? That was an entirely different question. For all of the previous reasons to say yes, he deserved someone perfect. Not someone broken, like Wanda. Yes, he deserved better than her. He just couldn't see it yet. Were he to find out about her horrid home life, he would run far, far away.

"Wanda?" he asked, his uncertainty beginning to arise again as he took his glasses off to clean them on his shirt.

"I'll-" she looked side to side, wishing Darcy hadn't mysteriously vanished. "I'll have to think about it."

He gave her a smile, obviously relieved it wasn't a firm no. "Okay," he said. "Let me know when you're ready."

She thanked him, because what else would you do in that situation, and walked quickly out of the classroom.

"I have never seen anything sadder in my life." Darcy startled her as she walked out the door.

Wanda put a hand over her heart as she nearly jumped out of her skin. "Darcy!"

"It's true." Darcy insisted. "You should've said yes. He's totally got the hots for you! It's worth a shot, and if you don't like him that way then you don't like him that way! Just give him a shot - he's the first guy I've seen you get all flustered around at this school."

"I do not get flustered-"

"Yes, you do. That's not the point, anyways."

Wanda nodded. Maybe she had a point, even if Darcy was the last person she'd ever go to for advice on her love-life. She stopped in the middle of the hallway, other people nearly bumping into her as she made a split-second decision.

Rarely was Wanda Maximoff ever spontaneous. She liked to think things through, making calculated decisions. It was how she survived life with her father, as she would surely be dead if she treated situations at home how she was about to treat this one. Spinning around, she sprinted back into the classroom.

Justin, as expected, was still piling his notebooks into his backpack. She only faltered for a step before approaching him, urging herself onwards. She'd already flung herself down the hallway; it was too late for backing out.

"Yes," she told him, slightly out of breath.

He turned, not having seen her at first and surprised by her quick return. As he realized what she meant, his face turned into a big grin. "Great." His eyes stayed trained on her as he asked, "How does tomorrow sound? We'll meet at the park."

She nodded. "Sounds good."

They stood there for a second, before she awkwardly waved and left. Darcy, once again, was outside the classroom smirking.

"Shut up," Wanda told her before she even had a chance to say anything.

"Hey, I was going to congratulate you!" Darcy patted her on the back.

It distracted from her excitement about the date as she hid her wince when one of her bruises was hit. Luckily, Darcy didn't notice. She blabbered something on about being 'ballsy.'

When they met up with their friends the next day before school, Darcy didn't hesitate to tell everyone about her upcoming date.

"Picture it," Pepper gushed. "Wanda Hammer."

Wanda nearly choked. "We haven't even been on the date, yet! It's a little early to think about that."

Bruce said, "Congratulations."

 _Why does everyone keep saying that?_ It's not like it was that big of a deal. And she wasn't completely set on the idea yet - she was just trying something new.

All throughout the day, she was sitting in anticipation of the date. After school finally let out, she walked to the park. She looked around her several times, making sure she hadn't been followed. She wouldn't put it past some of the group to tag along.

She briefly wondered if she would be here before him, and what she should do while she waited. Her worries were halted when he was already there, sitting in the middle of the grassy area with a picnic blanket and a large basket.

"Hey," he waved her over.

"Wow," she said while sitting next to him.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

A smile graced her features as she caught scent of the delicious smells wafting from the picnic basket. "Do I smell olives?" she asked.

"Yes, you do." He opened the top to pull out a platter of stuffed green olives.

She popped on in her mouth as she answered, "I love it."

* * *

Sitting on the couch at home with a root beer in hand - left over from the picnic that he'd let her take - she contemplated the date.

It was nice. She liked Justin, maybe as more than friends. He was sweet, and nice, and she had really had a nice time. Truthfully, though, she didn't know what she should be feeling. She didn't really have much to reference it to. According to all the books she'd spent hours pouring over, she should be feeling full of giddy excitement. She should be immediately calling up her friends to gush about how great it was, because it was great.

Still, she didn't feel that high as she'd always thought she would.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Pietro surprised her, flopping down next to her rather ungracefully.

She sighed. "These thoughts are at least dollar-worthy."

He rifled through his pockets and pulled out some change. He placed three quarters, two dimes, and a nickel on the coffee table and slid it over to her side. "Perfect."

She smirked, shoving it back. "Keep it - I was going to force you to listen, anyways."

He nodded, cramming the coins back in his pocket. "Then spill."

"I thought a first date was supposed to feel magical." She rushed out.

His expression first showed confusion, before switching to understanding. "I forgot you had your date with Justin today. How did it go?"

"It went perfectly." It was the truth. Everything about it had been flawless. She really should be swooning!

"But it wasn't magical like you'd hoped." He finished for her.

She nodded. "I'm supposed to be a lovestruck fool, aren't I?"

Pietro thought for a moment. "Maybe it's a good thing. You're comfortable around him."

"Maybe," she agreed, unsure. "What should I do?"

"Dump him. Dump him immediately."

She smacked him on the arm. "Pietro! I'm being serious!" This was not the time for his overprotective brother mode to make an appearance.

He rolled his eyes, rubbing his arm. "Ouch, you're strong." He pondered a moment longer, and she hoped he was thinking up some great answer to her problems. "I'd say give him another chance. It wasn't what you expected to feel - but was it bad?"

"No." She said it quickly, the answer automatic.

"Well," he offered, "Maybe you had this idea of this dream date with this dream guy in your mind, and then were disappointed when it wasn't as spectacular as you'd hoped."

It was very logical, and logic was rarely something that came out of Pietro's mouth. "Thanks, Pietro." She gave him a smile. "You're probably right."

He smirked. "On second thought, disregard everything I just said. Dump him right now!"

She stood up, chucking a throw pillow at his face with a laugh before going to her room.

As she flopped onto her bed, her phone buzzed.

Jane: _How did it go?_

She quickly typed back: _Amazing!_

It wasn't long before the typing bubble popped up and then, _I'm so happy for u!_

She kept up the chatter with Jane, ignoring her previous thoughts of how non-magical it was, because she'd already had that conversation and determined that she was being ridiculous.

* * *

Darcy was absent the next day, making her biology class much less entertaining. She'd broadcasted to the whole group chat in a very Darcy-way that she'd come down with the flu. At least they still had Tony as the class clown, but he was sat all the way in the back. Now, there was an empty seat between her and Jane.

Bucky took the chance to sit there, smiling at her and Jane as he did.

"Hopefully I won't get the flu from sitting here." He said as he sat down.

Jane didn't even respond to his comment, or give Wanda any time to. "Ask Wanda about her date!"

He turned to her, quirking a brow. "Oh, yeah? I forgot - how'd that go?"

"It was nice," she answered nonchalantly.

"That's not what you told me last night." Jane persisted.

She turned the same shade of red as the streaks in her hair, though they were beginning to fade.

He teased, "Don't hold out on me, Maximoff. I want all the details."

She groaned. "Fine! It was a picnic, and it was… great. He asked me to be his girlfriend after."

Jane's mouth dropped open. "You didn't tell me that!"

"You didn't ask?" she offered lamely.

"What did you say?" Bucky asked. His joking manner seemed to have disappeared, and he was all seriousness now. She kind of wished he hadn't made the switch, because answering the question seemed slightly more intimidating now, like she had to defend Justin.

"I told him that I'd think about it, but I think I'm going to say yes."

Jane squealed, while Bucky looked at her quizzically. "Why- I mean… Wha-"

It was rare that she got to render Bucky Barnes speechless, and she was enjoying it. "I had a nice time, and I'd like to do it again."

Class began, and while Ms. May was talking she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. He seemed surprised when she'd told him that she was contemplating a real relationship with Justin, whereas he'd been all jokes before that. She chalked it up to protectiveness, because they had grown rather close. Pietro had had a similar reaction.

* * *

At lunch they were all sitting at their usual table, minus Darcy. Pepper had an excited gleam in her eye, as she held a bunch of little slips of paper in her hand. Wanda warily asked what they were for.

"Our annual secret santa!" Pepper responded.

Wanda's face bore a look of confusion. "Our annual secret _what?"_

"Our secret santa," Clint restated, as if that answered it.

Thankfully, Sam took pity on her. "Since there's so many of us, instead of each of us buying everyone presents, we draw names and give presents to whoever we draw."

Okay, so she knew what that was. She just hadn't expected it, not having done anything like it in the past. "I get it," she nodded.

"We need a hat." Pepper looked around. Unfortunately, no one was wearing one.

"Here's my shoe." Thor had taken off his shoe in record-time and placed in on the table with a thunk.

Bruce scrunched his nose, pinching it and using his other hand to wave away the stench that could be smelled from three tables over. "Get that _thing,"_ he said with a disgusted look on his face, "away from my _food."_

Thor only laughed in response, sliding it closer to Pepper. "I see no other volunteers."

Pepper sighed in resignation. "Fine, we'll use the shoe." She dumped the paper slips in and gave it a shake. "Wanda, since you're new to this, you draw first."

She would've appreciated the sentiment, had the act not been to reach her hand in probably the most putrid shoe she'd ever seen. She reached in quickly, not taking her time to rummage around in there, and pulled out a paper.

 _Darcy._

She read the name and nodded to herself. She would have to find something great… That she could afford on her budget of zero dollars and no cents. Maybe this would be a little tricky.

Everyone else drew names and were eyeing each other warily, all trying to figure out who had gotten their name.

 **Responses to Reviews:**

 **~ guacamole lover: Thank you! I saw Infinity War and… I think maybe I'll take the therapy!**

 **~Mcduffie145: Thanks! I hate Justin as well. It kills me a little inside when I write him being all flirty… So yes, I had to thrown in some Bucda!**

 **~thewritevoice: Haha! He's good… for now.**

 **~kittyjune26: Well, THAT wasn't Peter…**

 **~Amora: Right?! Let's just kill Justin off. I like that idea. Bucda 4 life! And Infinity War… Omg I cried at the beginning and the end. And the middle. The character interactions were AWESOME though!**

 **~MaximoffFangirl: *sad face* because stories need a plot im so sorry**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm writing a Christmas chapter in the middle of spring, so yeah. Forgive me if it's not quite cheery enough!**

 **For everyone telling me to add Peter: I threw in an Easter egg in the last few chapters, that literally NOBODY has noticed… I thought two people found it, but both times they were talking about something/someone else. It's killing me!**

 **I have a theory (really just a little something I noticed) about Loki in Infinity War (and yes, I've already seen it) that anyone curious can message me about. It's a stretch but still...**

* * *

As a little kid, Wanda had been a total Christmas fanatic. She'd write letters to Santa, and help Mama bake him some cookies. Papa would go out and chop down a huge tree, stuffing it in the living room while Mama chided him for not taking into account the height of the ceiling. Every year they had to cut the top off to fit the angel. On Christmas morning, she and Pietro would bound out of bed at five in the morning to wake their parents and go open presents. Papa would grab his camera, and Mama a hot cup of coffee while they watched their excited children discover what Santa had brought.

She remembered this fondly, laying in her bed. This year, she didn't really feel the same Christmas spirit that she used to. Her uncomfortable mattress dug into the bruises on her back, and hurt no matter which way she turned.

She knew from glancing at her phone that it was already ten-o'clock. She sat up slowly, stretching, before walking to the living room.

"You're up." Pietro smiled from the couch. "Come open presents!"

Papa grunted from his place at the kitchen table, but otherwise said nothing. He had a beer in-hand, as always. The sight dampened her mood a little bit.

A look at their "tree" even worsened her mood. It was really just a bush that her and Pietro had picked up from the nursery a few minutes away. It was never about the presents, but the fact that there were only a few scattered around the makeshift tree depressed her a bit. Still, she moved to kneel next to him in front of the tree.

She was handed a present with her name on it, which was clearly scrawled in Pietro's messy writing.

She handed him the one she'd gotten him, and wondered if Papa even wanted the one she'd made him.

Unwrapping the present, she looked in the box. It was a new burgundy jacket, and she held it up to herself. "It's beautiful," she grinned. It was a bit darker than her old one, but she found herself liking it even more. It was certainly not cheap, either. He must've spent most of what he'd made at his job on it.

She looked up at her brother, her eyes slightly teary. He was always looking at the bright side of things, perfectly content in the moment. Were it not for him, she wouldn't have even bothered with a tree, or a family Christmas, or anything this year. Even day-to-day life was made brighter with his ever-present smile; it was a comfort she couldn't live without. She was constantly going through days of good and bad, and probably about as reliable as Internet Explorer. He was a rock, even when the waves crashed over him.

Without warning, she launched herself forward to bombard him with a hug. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"You're welcome," he returned the gesture.

He seemed to really like the present she had gotten him - some cool socks and a couple of candy bars. It was nowhere near as nice as the jacket, but he immediately put on the socks and dove into the Snickers bar.

She watched as he opened a present from Papa - there wasn't one from him addressed to her. Pietro looked up at her. "Didn't Papa get you one?"

"He said he's going to give it to me later," she lied. He was still half-asleep at the table; he couldn't hear them. Of course, there was no present for her.

Taking a risk, she picked up the long, flat present she'd spent lots of time making for him. She was a little nervous to give it to him, but didn't want him to think that she didn't appreciate him.

"What's this?" He asked gruffly, obviously a bit drunk.

"I- I made you a present." She fought to keep the tremble out of her voice as she placed it in front of him.

He stared down at it, before reaching out to unceremoniously rip off the wrapping.

She was proud of the gift, even if he didn't like it. It was creative and looked nice, but inexpensive. She'd polished a piece of wood, and collected all of his bottle caps. They were arranged and glued down in the shape of Sokovia. She'd thought he would like it, because he loved his beer and his country.

His face was unreadable as he grunted, "Thanks, kid."

That was all. There was no hug, no heartfelt thanks, but she didn't expect any of that. She knew better than to say "you're welcome," because he might take it the wrong way and she'd like to avoid getting beat on Christmas.

Her and Pietro then dug into a pie she'd made the night before, fulfilling the Maximoff Family Christmas Tradition.

* * *

She arrived at Jane's with Bruce, carrying a bag full of Darcy's gifts. Secret Santa had turned out to be the perfect way to do this, because there was no way she would've been able to afford good gifts for _twelve_ people, plus Papa and Pietro.

Truthfully, she was not proud of how she'd gotten the money to pay for the gifts she did buy. It was cheap, and dirty, but she didn't know how else to get the money. She didn't have time to get a job, and likely wouldn't have been able to get one on such short notice. So when Sam and Steve were playing a little one-on-one basketball, she'd leaned over to Tony (because he had an allowance of, like, two-thousand-dollars), and said. "I bet fifteen bucks that Sam's going to miss this," as he was aligning for a free-throw.

She instantly felt guilty as Tony gave her a confused look. It wasn't like her to make bets, unless someone else was the one to initiate them and she happened to like her odds. But then he gave her a look of understanding, which scared her a little bit. He'd most likely caught on to her scheme, because after that look disappeared as quickly as it had come, he said, "Double it and you're on."

Of course, Sam had missed the shot entirely. Tony handed her the thirty bucks, and she thanked him guiltily. She thought he might be upset, or angry with her for using him. But he didn't seem to care at all.

As she placed her gift under the large tree, she silently thanked Tony.

"Everyone's here!" Jane announced as Loki, Thor, and Clint filed in through the door.

Darcy, who'd been dubbed the official hot chocolate maker, placed a mug in front of her. She picked it up carefully and took a sip, careful not to spill any on the Fosters' couch.

"Let the passing of the presents begin!" Sam rubbed his hands together excitedly.

Everyone sat down, besides Steve, Jane, and Pepper, who were handing out the gifts.

Presents were passed out all at once, and Wanda felt the couch dip as Bucky sat next to her. Steve handed her a red bag with her name on the side. As everyone else was already tearing into theirs, she decided to open it up.

The first thing she pulled out was heavy and round. It turned out to be the largest can of refried beans she'd ever seen. It probably weighed three pounds! She let out a laugh; it was obviously symbolic of the first movie night she'd had with the group, when she'd bought refried beans from dollar tree. Clearly it was a gag gift, but little did they know that she actually intended to eat this.

The next thing she pulled out of the bag was a pair of red fuzzy socks, which would be worn immediately upon arriving at home.

The final object was in a much smaller box, and she opened it up carefully. Inside was a bracelet, which she picked up and examined with a smile. It was brown leather, with some red padding underneath and a brass plate with _Wanda_ engraved. It was beautiful. It wasn't as elegant and fine as the rest of the jewelry she owned – well, had been left for her by her mother. It was more her style, something she could wear every day.

Slipping it on her wrist, she wished she knew who to thank for the gifts.

She looked across the room to see how Darcy was enjoying her gifts. She was opening them with so much excitement that Wanda giggled. Darcy had been pretty easy – she'd been lucky to draw her name. All she had to do was go to the dollar store and pick up some circus peanuts and black licorice, throw in some T-shirts with cat puns, and that was all that was necessary for a happy Darcy.

Everyone finished opening presents, and for the most part everyone seemed happy. Thor got a new pair of sneakers, along with some shoe fragrance for obvious reasons. Sam got six pairs of My Little Pony socks – one pair was knee-high Rainbowdash socks with pop-out wings. He was pretty ecstatic about those. The only person not-so-stoked was Clint. As soon as he'd opened the box his present was in, several rubber snakes jumped out at him, resulting in a very girlish scream. Natasha doubled over in laughter, and it was made clear who had drawn his name. She made up for the joke by giving him a bunch of candy and a new shirt.

Now everyone was scattered around the living room, eating food and listening to the Christmas music Jane had brought out.

She looked around and smiled. The Secret Santa had revived her Christmas spirit that she previously thought dead. Even standing in the corner alone – she'd been hanging out with Darcy and Nat, but they quickly left once a game of Black Jack started - , she was having a good time.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?" A voice teased, and Bucky walked over to stand next to her. He handed her a can of coke.

Laughing, she smacked him lightly on the arm. "Thanks." She popped the lid open and drank some.

"So, who'd you draw?" He asked curiously.

She raised her brow. 'I thought the whole point of Secret Santa was to keep it a secret?"

"Every year, by the next day we all know who gave who what." He rolled his eyes, "and every year Jane yells at us for it."

She laughed. "I'm not so sure I want to be on her bad side."

"True, but she can't kill all of us."

She thought for a second, electing to just tell him. "I drew Darcy."

He nodded. "Lucky. The person I drew is super picky, and has _zero_ taste!"

She looked at him, waiting for him to go on. "So?! You have to tell me who it is, now!"

He tapped his finger to his chin, pretending to think. "Fine, fine," he eventually conceded. "I believe I drew a certain Scarlet Witch."

Her mouth dropped open. So, he'd gotten her the gifts. Her face broke into a smile, as she rolled her eyes. "I am _not_ picky." Her tone changed, as she looked him in the eye. "Thank you. They were very nice."

"Of course," he answered, matching her stare. His voice got slightly deeper. "You're welcome."

Their moment was broken by the sound of her phone buzzing. Blushing, she pulled it out. Justin's name flashed across the screen.

'Who is it?" Bucky asked.

"Justin," she answered. "I'm sorry, I should answer." She smiled apologetically, and he nodded. She thought he looked a little dejected as he walked away, but it must've just been her imagination.

"Hello?" She accepted the call.

" _Hey, Wanda,"_ Justin's voice filled her ear, and she gave him a smile even though he couldn't see it.

"What's up?" She asked. Even though they saw each other at school most of the time, he called her _a lot._ It was nice to know he cared where she was and how she was doing, but she wondered if it was normal. Pepper and Tony didn't seem completely glued together.

" _I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, is all."_

He was so sweet. "Aw, thank you. Well, then Merry Christmas to you, too."

" _Thanks. What are you doing right now?"_

"I'm at a Christmas party, with all my friends."

" _That's fun,"_ he offered. " _Who's there?"_

She looked around. "Jane's here, and Darcy, and Clint, and Nat, and Bucky…" She didn't have time to finish as he interrupted.

" _Wait, there are guys there?"_

She paused, confused. "Yes, they're my friends." He wasn't about to go all jealous boyfriend, was he? There was silence on the end of the line. She asked, "Does that bother you?"

He finally spoke. " _I'm just not so comfortable with you hanging out with other guys while I'm not there."_

It irked her a bit. Was he seriously asking her not to hang out with her own friends? They were in her life first, so he would just have to deal.

He continued. " _I'm sorry, but there are just a lot of them in your friend group. You are a pretty girl, so you can understand if I'm uncomfortable. Right?"_

 _Wrong._ She defended, "These guys are my friends, most of them practically like siblings to me. I think they can restrain themselves from a 'pretty girl.'"

" _I know, I know._ _I'm sorry, babe. I don't know what I was thinking. Want to go on a date tomorrow? Then maybe we can talk about this."_

Finally, he'd admitted that he was in the wrong about this. She could see where he was coming from, but he would have to see _her_ side of things as well. "Sure, that sounds lovely."

" _Can I just hear you say it? It'll ease my mind."_

"What do you want me to say?" she asked.

" _Just, you know that you're_ my _girlfriend or something like that."_

"Erm-" It was a little weird, but if it would make him feel better than she would do it. "I'm your girlfriend."

" _Great. Thanks, babe. I'll see you."_

"Bye." He hung up.

The conversation left her a bit confused. Things had been going so well between them. He didn't seem to mind as much at school when she was with her friends, but maybe she just hadn't been paying close enough attention. Shaking it off, she reminded herself that this was a party, not time to over-analyze her relationship.

* * *

 _Bucky's POV_

 _After Wanda answered her phone call with Justin, he walked away to give them some privacy. He didn't know why, but he felt a little upset that their moment had been broken up. Something about hearing her talk about Justin made him feel weird, too._

" _What's wrong?" Steve asked, walking over to lean against the wall next to him._

" _What?" He was startled out of his thoughts._

" _You look like a kicked puppy," Steve observed. "What happened?"_

" _Nothing," he replied. He looked over to where Wanda was on the phone, smiling happily as she talked to her boyfriend._

 _Steve followed his gaze, eyes widening in understanding. 'Wanda?" he asked._

" _What about Wanda?" He felt like he had an idea of where his friend was going with this, but he wasn't sure. He wasn't playing clueless – he actually was clueless._

 _Steve sighed at his obliviousness. "Do you like her?"_

" _Of course I like Wanda." He answered simply._

 _Steve looked about ready to face-palm, which made him smirk. Even though this conversation was probably about to get all in-depth about his feelings and stuff, it was still fun to put that look on his friend's face._

" _Do you like her-like her, though? Do you like her as more than friends?"_

 _He frowned. "I don't know."_

" _I think you do. Who else watches a girl with sad little puppy eyes while she's on the phone with her boyfriend? Someone who_ likes her _does."_

 _He looked at Steve. He could confide anything in him, and he always knew that. "Maybe I do like her,' he admitted, "In the way that you said." He scratched the back of his head. "But she'd got a boyfriend, now."_

" _True," Steve nodded. "Then again, boyfriends aren't always permanent." He gestured back to Wanda, whose smile had turned into a confused frown._

" _I'm not going to step on Justin's toes." Bucky furrowed his brow. "If she's happy with him then I'll keep it to myself."_

" _Right, because you're a good person," Steve clapped him on the back. "I wouldn't expect and less of you."_

 _Bucky gave him a smile, and turned to go join in the next round of Black Jack. It was probably best to stop staring at Wanda like a creep, anyways._

* * *

It wasn't until nearly five-o'clock that she was walking home from Jane's. Of course, in the winter that meant it was already dark. She walked home quickly, shivering as she pulled her jacket tighter around her. Bruce had elected to spend the night over at Sam's, leaving her to walk home alone.

He actually offered to cancel on Sam to walk her home, but she insisted he went. She was getting pretty skilled at walking her neighborhood alone.

Now that she was away from the distractions of the party and her rowdy Christmas spirit-filled friends, thoughts of her interaction with Bucky and then later with Justin flooded her mind.

If Justin thought he could waltz into her life and control who she could and couldn't hang out with, then he was sorely mistaken. It was one of the few parts of her life where she actually held the steering wheel for once, and she wasn't going to give it up. She had to try to view it from his side, though; she didn't want to ruin a perfectly good relationship over something so dumb. She supposed if he was off partying with a bunch of girls, she might not be so secure. She wouldn't stop him from doing so, but it might hurt a bit.

She would have to let him explain tomorrow, and kindly let him know that he doesn't have anything to worry about when she's with her friends.

Then there was Bucky. He was his usual, humorous self and then she gets a call from Justin and he completely changes. Looking back on it, she thinks that there was definitely some hurt in his expression. Maybe he was upset that she'd ditched their conversation to talk on the phone? It wasn't the nicest thing she could've done… She would have to apologize when she saw him next.

She was half way home when something caught her peripheral. It was surprising that it had managed to startle her out of her thoughts. Not even the post she'd walked into a little ways back had gotten too much attention. But lying in the snow a little ways down an alley, there was something orange sticking out amongst the white. Looking both ways to make sure no one would follow her in – another precaution for being alone – she walked towards it.

As she neared, she could tell that it was a cat. At first she thought it was dead, and was about to walk away. But the cat blinked, lifting its head slightly to look at her. She slowly dropped down to her knees, as not to scare the poor animal.

"Hey, kitty," she cooed. "Where are your people?"

The cat didn't flinch as she reached out to pet it, but that may have been due to the fact that it was half-frozen. The fur was dull, and missing a few patches. She'd never had a pet, but she'd pet others' animals and knew that they should have some body heat warming your fingers as you stroked them; if anything this cat just made her colder.

The cat leaned its head slightly into her hand when she scratched behind the ears, and she smiled as he started to purr faintly.

"You don't look like you've had anyone to care for you in a while." The animal's fur was a quilt of matts, dullness, and missing chunks. She identified it as a male cat, but couldn't tell how old he was.

Her first thought was to take him door-to-door, and try to find the owner. But she knew all about having a neglectful parent, and didn't want to send him back anywhere if he would be thrown out again. The most obvious, and responsible answer, was to take him to the animal shelter a few blocks down.

Except for that was a kill shelter. She knew this from one of Darcy's extremely long-winded rants about animal rights. An older cat like him, and in such bad shape, would likely never get adopted. While she understood that shelters couldn't re-home _every_ animal and needed to clear space for others, she felt sentimental about this cat. She had found him, and felt responsible for him.

Her third idea, and probably the worst yet, was to take him home with her. Papa would never allow her to, not in a million years. She didn't know what Pietro would say, if he would tell Papa or not. But neither of them ever set foot in her room, so…

She scooped up the kitty, tucking him into her coat in hopes of warming him. It would also keep him concealed.

As she walked up the driveway, she saw that Pietro's bike was gone. He'd probably gone out for a bit, maybe to hang out with his friends like she'd done. He didn't have as big of a friend group as she did, but he had good friends such as Sharon and Rhodey. As she walked inside, she was abruptly pulled by the hair.

"Ow," she whimpered.

"Little bitch," Papa seethed after slamming the door behind her. He swayed slightly in his stance. "Is that all you think of me?!" He slammed her back into a wall.

She gasped, as pain filled her senses. It was a too-familiar feeling now, but she couldn't even raise her arms to defend herself; they were still firmly wrapped around the cat in her jacket.

"Answer me!" He demanded as he shoved her back once again.

"I-"she stuttered, confused. "I- I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play games with me!" He shook her roughly. "Is that what you think of me?! Is all I am to you beer bottles and _trash?_ "

"N-no," her voice cracked as she shrank smaller. She was between him and the wall, arms still wrapped protectively around the cat. He would be fine so long as he didn't hit her in the stomach…

He slapped her across the face, hard. "Then why did you give it to me?!"

 _The gift – he didn't like the gift._ She thought he would enjoy the present. She'd put lots of time and effort into making it, and it actually turned out really nice. At the very least, if he didn't like it then he could sell it. It was art, after all. "I'm- I'm so sorry, Papa." She hurried to apologize. "I thought it would be a nice gift… I'm sorry."

"You'd better be," he spat, finally sauntering off.

Ignoring the pain, she breathed a sigh of relief. A quick check told her that the cat was just fine, though a little shaken, and she headed to her room in the back of the house.

Some tears leaked down her face as she let the cat on her bed, making him a nest of blankets. "That's just Papa," she whispered as she tucked him in. "He gets angry sometimes, but I'll make sure he never does it to you. He'll never know."

Why she was talking to a cat, she had no idea. Maybe Papa had hit her on the head a few too many times. She grabbed a pair of scissors and started cutting the mats out one-by-one. He would have to be a bit patchy until the hair grew out better, but he didn't seem to care and neither did she.

"What should we call you?" she asked the feline as he yawned. Now that he wasn't as raggedy-looking, she could tell that he was a pretty-looking orange tabby with a white spot on his chest and four white paws. "Oranges," she tried. In her defense, she'd never actually named anything before.

She thought hard. Names were supposed to mean something, and she wanted her cat to have meaning. Naming him Marvel seemed like a good idea, but who named their pet after their _school?_ Sokovia sounded nice, but it was also too long. She wanted something short and sweet.

"Kovi," she tried. The cat's tail twitched, which she took as a sign of approval. "Alright, then I'll call you Kovi."

 **Responses to Reviews:**

 **~Midnighttruce: Thank you! I'm glad to hear you enjoy it. There is more Pietro and Bucky in this chapter, and not much Tony but I'll be sure to add him in more. Thanks for the honesty about the pacing; it actually inspired me to do a lot more Bucda in this chapter than I would have, otherwise. I suck at writing humor, but I'll do my best. And definitely some of the next characters I'll be adding in are Black Panther.**

 **~Mcduffie145: BAM! There's some Steve for ya, lol. It was mostly Bucky-centric, though. Your suggestion greatly helping in the writing of this chapter! GotG characters are definitely arriving at some point, but I'm not sure when. How did the MCU get so big?! Remember when there were only six avengers?! And YES – Peter and Darcy would be hilarious.**

 **~silenabeauregardpjohoo: I really hope that I got your username right! Thanks for reading this fic, and I'm so happy to hear that you like it. I very much intend on finishing this fic, and possibly doing a college sequel!**

 **~MaximoffFangirl: I can't be that bad, compared to the heartbreak suffered from Infinity War!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Another chapter! I know my writing schedule is highly erratic with lots of breaks, but I'm sticking with the idea pretty well. So, this is definitely not going to be one of those fics that are started but never finished. It just might take an Asgardian lifetime to complete…**

 **Without further adieu,**

* * *

-Chapter 17-

With the break from school almost over, Wanda felt herself itching to go back to classes. She didn't miss school - who would miss the crowded halls and homework? She wanted an excuse to leave their alcohol-reeking house for most of the day. She still had New Years' to get through, but luckily they weren't doing anything as a 'family' for that.

"Hey, Kovi," the cat jumped into her lap and started purring. He wasn't a very vocal cat, thankfully. She didn't know what she would do if Papa heard meowing coming from her room.

He'd settled in well. Although he was confined to her room, he never seemed eager to venture out down the hall. She was always very careful to keep the door closed, but the one time she didn't, Kovi stayed right in his spot at the foot of her bed.

She made him a nice little setup. A little tray with some dirt in it served as his litter box, and two little dishes from Mama's old china set held food and water. The only issue was the food. She didn't have money to buy any, and he'd been living off what she stole out of the kitchen. While the cat enjoyed his canned meatloaf, it wasn't cat food.

She set the cat on the bed next to her, getting dressed. "I'm going out for the day," she said. Kovi licked his paw in response.

She hadn't been to the Odinsons' yet, and was a little scared to. The gang was going over to ring in the New Year. Apparently Thor's cousins would be there.

"Hey," Bruce said as he caught up to her. "You know how to get there?"

"No," she said. "Only a vague text from Darcy."

He laughed, grabbing her elbow to lead her down a couple of side streets. That was the thing about Bruce - he was always touching people. It was never in a disrespectful way, but he was always taking your hand or touching your arm.

Thor lived in some obscure part of town, where she had yet to venture into. It was closer to the dumpy neighborhood that her and Bruce lived in than Jane's or Tony's but certainly a nice place in its own way. The houses were large, with big lawns and gardens. One stood out more than the others, right in the middle of Asgard Lane. It was more of a palace than a house.

They walked up to the big front doors and Bruce rapped on the brass knocker. A grinning Thor opened the door. "Wanda, Bruce! So glad you could make it!"

"Hello," she greeted.

"I know you, Bruce." A woman, Mrs. Odinson probably, smiled. "You must be Wanda, right?"

"Yes," she replied. "It's nice to meet you."

"You as well, and you can call me Frigga," she shook Wanda's hand with a firm grip. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Uh, thanks," she answered, not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Come on, we're all in the living room." Thor directed them down a hallway decorated with more art than she'd ever seen in her life. The entire place looked as if it belonged to royalty.

Bruce looked familiar to the elegant setting, but to Wanda this was entirely new.

"Close your mouth, Maximoff." Bucky smirked as she neared him. "You'll catch flies."

"I didn't know it would be this nice!" she hissed in awe. Clearly the Odinsons were wealthy and rather well-known, but she hadn't know to this extent.

Seated on a large brown couch were several people she didn't know. She was surprised to find Loki actually being social, chatting with Darcy and a darker-haired girl she hadn't met yet.

"Yeah, it's beautiful." Despite talking about the house, his eyes didn't leave her as he spoke.

Glancing around at the new people - probably Odinson relatives - and luxurious surroundings, she chuckled. "Slightly intimidating."

"You'll be fine," he laughed. "Everyone loves you. You'll fit right in. Plus we're all here."

If only that were true. "Hela doesn't," she stated with an eye roll. And Papa - did he even love her anymore? Either way, now was not the time to ponder the painful question.

"People who aren't whiny little emos." He said, causing her to laugh. Looking across the room, he added, "with the exception of Loki, who seems to be warming up to you."

She snorted, covering her mouth with her hand. As she looked over to be sure he hadn't heard the insult, he sensed the eyes on him and turned, furrowing his brow. She quickly looked back at Bucky, pretending she hadn't been staring.

"Buck," Steve appeared behind them. "Frigga needs help in the kitchen, and I volunteered us."

"Of course you did, Saint Steve." Bucky looked back to Wanda. "I'm gonna go. Will you be good?" He touched her on the arm, lingering there for a second.

She looked up at him, answering slowly, "I'll be good." She didn't understand why she was suddenly a bit breathless, or why the butterflies in her stomach appeared. She had a _boyfriend,_ for goodness' sake. She shouldn't be feeling this way. Maybe it was just nerves, from the party setting.

He walked off with Steve, and she took a deep breath, shaking her head. She made a move to go over to where Loki and Darcy were, since Jane seemed to be talking with some older ladies - grandmothers? - and she didn't really feel like a conversation about knitting.

She halted when her phone buzzed, pulling it out. A text from Justin. _Hey, babe. Wyd?_

Her fingers moved quickly to reply, _At the Odinsons' New Years Party :)_

 _That's fun. What time will you be done? I want to kiss you at midnight ;)_

She furrowed her brow, not having thought of that. _It's a countdown party… Won't be done until after, sorry._

His response appeared quickly: _Then leave._

He'd been doing this more lately, demanding things of her. After the first few dates, he stopped… _trying._ He was no longer the gentleman he had been before. His efforts to hang out during the break from school slim, until she was hanging out with friends, particularly male ones, and he felt the need to protect his 'property.'

 _I'm having fun,_ was what she responded.

She waited a few minutes, but there was no replies after that. She briefly wondered if he was angry with her, but didn't care as much as she thought she should. _I told him that I was having fun, so that's what I'm going to do._ Thankfully, Thor came to the rescue with a distraction.

"Wanda!" He boomed, waving her over. "Come meet my cousins!"

She complied, walking over to where he was standing with three other boys, all somewhere around their age.

"Wanda, this is Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg." He gestured to them, and she waved shyly. "Guys, this is Wanda."

"You forgot the best one," a female voice piped up.

She turned, and saw that Loki, Darcy, and Sif had wandered over, the latter having spoken.

"Ah, Sif," Thor grinned. "How could I forget you?"

"Nice to meet you," Sif had a firm handshake, even more so than the three burly guys she had just met.

"You too," she replied.

Darcy stepped up next to her and muttered quietly, "I know what you're thinking. Who let these people name children?"

She fought to contain her laugh. These were definitely names to remember.

Once Thor and the cousins were laughing and joking loudly, Loki chimed in with their quiet conversation. "My bet is that Sif is short for Syphilis."

Darcy nodded seriously. "Volstagg probably got his name when the doctor asked what to put on the birth certificate, and his father sneezed."

Wanda laughed, although felt a bit weird making fun of people she'd just met. "You guys are horrible."

"It's my specialty," Loki said without missing a beat.

She had to agree with that.

* * *

 _Loki POV_

 _Being a member of the Odinson family often meant partaking in parties and social gatherings. It happened to be by far his least favorite part. His family members often treated him differently than they did Thor, the golden child - and now he knew why. Having a reason didn't make it hurt any less, but it allowed him to convince himself that it wasn't entirely personal. Besides, it wasn't like he wanted to listen to the boisterous laughter of his cousins or the endless drawling of the 'good old days' coming from his grandparents. He often preferred to stay in his room on such occasions, but a certain glasses-wearing dork in a New Years' sweater had persuaded him to come out and mingle._

 _He didn't know why it was that Darcy's asking had brought him out here. She seemed to have that effect on him. After the falling out and then reintegration into the group, he'd grown closer to her than any of the others._

 _All things considered, the night was going smoothly, and it was almost eleven o'clock. The flat-screen was showing the live entertainment before the ball drop, although the volume was down low as people mostly talked and played games._

" _Loki," Darcy poked him on the shoulder to grab his attention._

 _He turned, quirking a brow. "Yes?"_

" _Should we set up our prank for Thor now?" Her face held a hopeful expression - she'd been waiting all night to do this._

 _His eyes twinkled mischievously, just as excited as she was. "Oh, absolutely." He'd been waiting all night for this; it was the highlight of his New Years'._

 _They casually walked over to the kitchen, making small talk when they were stopped before continuing on. His gaze turned to the door curiously when someone walked in that he hadn't recalled being on the guest list - Wanda's boyfriend. He didn't pay too much attention to her love life, but he knew that she tended to keep her friends and her boyfriend separate. Still he shrugged it off, since it was entirely possible she had invited him over in order to have a midnight makeout session. The thought made him smirk as they approached their destination._

* * *

She had assumed Justin was upset with her for blowing him off tonight, so it was certainly a shock when he came waltzing through the door. Striding with purpose, he spotted her almost immediately, coming over to where she was sitting on the couch with Natasha and Clint. "Wanda!" he greeted happily.

She pushed back her confusion, thinking she must've just misread. "Justin," she stood up off the couch to give him a hug. "I didn't know you were coming." She wasn't sure if she really wanted him there, and hoped her voice didn't reflect how she felt.

"I thought I'd surprise _my_ girl on New Years'." The way he said it made her shiver. He was acting all possessive, which ordinarily she thought was cute. Coming from him, however, it made her feel like a piece of property.

"It's nice to see you," she broke the awkwardly-long hug. "I'm glad you could come."

"Me too." Small talk also wasn't his strong suit.

"Should I get us something to drink?" he asked her.

"I'll go with you," she offered. After the incident at Sam's birthday party and a long lecture from Pietro (highly unnecessary but it was easier to let him rant), she was overly careful about accepting anything.

They walked over to the refreshment table in silence, Wanda not really sure what to say. What was he doing here? She hadn't invited him. It was probably meant to be a nice surprise, but she was having more fun with her friends than hanging around with her boyfriend. He didn't really know anyone here, so it wasn't like she could ditch him.

"So, you having fun?" Justin asked suddenly.

 _I was._ "Yes, I am," she answered simply.

"Good." He took a long sip of Fanta, offering her a can. She politely declined, instead grabbing a rootbeer. She didn't really care for Fanta much. "I thought I should stop by, to celebrate with you. And stop any of the guys from getting any ideas with you when the ball drops."

He was clearly talking about a kiss at midnight, which irked her for a few reasons. One, he had only come over to kiss her. She had kissed guys before, during the time she spent in New York. She had yet to kiss Justin, though, waiting for the right moment. And nearly every moment with him was too awkward to bother trying. So here he was, trying to use this as a way to corner her into it.

Two, he thought she would be unfaithful to him. Even if this room were filled with celebrities, the fact that she had a boyfriend would mark every one of them as off-limits, in her mind. The fact that he thought differently of her was offensive.

 _No, no_. She shook her head at the thoughts. _He is my boyfriend and he is stopping by to spend the holiday with me. It's his compromise, after I blew him off to hang out with my friends. This is sweet._ She repeated this like a mantra until it made sense to her. "That's sweet of you," she finally told him.

He grinned back. "You're welcome."

They stood there, Wanda sipping her drink and wondering what to do. She really wanted to go back to her heated debate with Clint and Nat over how to pronounce 'egg.' But bringing him over to talk to her friends would make him feel left out, and likely flare his jealous streak.

So instead, she stood with him in the corner. She felt horrible, for wishing he hadn't come when he'd only done so to spend some time with her. Still, he didn't make it very easy to bring around her friends. Attempting to initiate some conversation, because he wasn't so dull when he was talking to her, she asked, "So, you didn't have any plans with family for New Years'?"

He shook his head. "My parents are going out of town, and left me alone." He turned to her, taking her hand and offering a smile. "That's why I wanted to spend it with you, babe."

She blushed. _There's the guy I agreed to go out with._ "Aw," she linked their fingers.

"Well, of course I would want to be with my beautiful girlfriend."

She was never very good at accepting compliments, but smiled in return. "I love spending time with you, too."

* * *

 _Natasha's POV_

 _She looked up to see Loki and Darcy sneaking off to the kitchens. "Clint, look." She nudged him and gestured towards the scheming pair._

 _Clint pulled his attention away from the biscotti he was practically swallowing whole and followed her gaze. "Oh, god," he rolled his eyes. "Are they doing that again? Is Thor going to fall for that every year?"_

 _Nat laughed. "I guess so."_

" _No learning curve," Clint shook his head in mock disapproval. Of course, he secretly loved the stupid prank. It was practically tradition by now._

 _She looked over at Wanda, who was now standing off to the side with Justin after he'd stolen her away from their discussion. "She doesn't look too happy to have him here, does she?"_

" _Who?" Clint had gone back to the biscotti._

" _Obama," she deadpanned. "I'm talking about Wanda, dumbass."_

 _He waved away the insult. "Yeah, yeah. I'm not the sharpest arrow in the quiver." He looked up to gauge Wanda's expression as the pair stood in mostly silence. "If he did anything, I'll kill him."_

" _Wanda might object to you making threats on her boyfriend's life, but for the record: I second that." Nat nodded seriously. Thankfully, the not-quite-so-happy couple started talking, and eventually smiling. Finally satisfied, Nat looked away. "Okay, I think we're good now. No murder tonight."_

" _Excellent," Clint muttered. "There's hardly any room in my schedule."_

 _Nat quirked her brow. "You mean between cramming biscottis in your face?"_

" _Exactly."_

* * *

"I'm going to go visit with Darcy and Jane." She excused herself for the moment. "I'll be back."

"Why?" he asked with a pout. Justin had seemingly run out of the charm he'd possessed earlier, and was back to his dull self. She found herself beginning to wonder if the moments of good were really worth the ones of awkwardness. He hadn't seemed too bad when she met him, but maybe now that he 'had' her, he'd stopped trying.

"I was invited here, and I don't want them to think that I abandoned them. It'll just take a second." She quickly made her way to the two girls, sighing.

"Hey, Wanda." Darcy waved. "Didn't know your boo was popping over. You gonna get some midnight kisses?"

She ignored the girl's comments as one of Thor's cousins walked over then, who she recognized as Sif.

"Sif!" Jane exclaimed.

"Hey," Sif smiled. "You guys miss me?"

"Yes!" Darcy cried. "You need to come visit more often!" After thinking for a second, she added, "We'll trade Loki for you."

"Trade denied!" Hogun called out, obviously having overheard.

" _Hey,"_ Loki looked up from where he was cracking into the leftover holiday nuts. "If you think I would willingly go back with the Three Stooges, you better think again."

Wanda laughed, enjoying the banter. "So, you all have history together?"

Jane nodded. "Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun used to live here until seventh grade, when their parents moved upstate."

"Sif is awesome!" Darcy chided in. "She used to help us get payback when the guys were going through their dumb girls-have-cooties phase."

"That reminds me," Sif's eyes twinkled. "Did you do it this year?"

"You bet I did," Darcy grinned wickedly.

"Do what?" Wanda was confused now.

Jane sighed. "I guess you're going to find out soon enough."

Okay, now she was intrigued. It seemed she wouldn't be getting any more answers for now, though, so she let the subject drop.

"Ooh!" Jane squealed. "The countdown is starting!"

Wanda turned to look at the TV screen, as did everyone else. The volume was immediately turned up, and they all began counting down together.

" _Fifteen… Fourteen… Thirteen…"_

She felt arms snake around her waist from behind, and ignored her initial response to tense up. She'd been touchier lately about physical contact, which she could only attribute to her dear Papa. Allowing herself to relax into his embrace, she continued to count.

" _Eight… Seven… Six… Five…"_

He turned her around, and suddenly they were face-to-face. They were so close that their foreheads were nearly touching. Her heart raced as she found that she had forgotten this inevitable part of the night: their first kiss.

" _Two… One…"_

She closed her eyes, because that's what you're supposed to do. She could feel his breath against her face as he leaned in, smelling of the Fanta he'd drank earlier. She found herself wondering if she really wanted to kiss him, but it was far too late now, because his lips were almost on hers and she wasn't about to cause a scene by dramatically shoving him off of her-

Bang!

Startled out of their moment, both Wanda and Justin turned to see the tail-end of Thor getting showered with the apple cider he'd just popped open. Several people started laughing, while an older woman, one of the aunts, screamed " _Damnit_ Loki, _again_?!"

Darcy and Loki both fled the room while the enraged aunt threatened them with a ladle. Thor just stood in the center of the room, a resigned look on his face.

"You would think he'd have learned by now," Bucky said. She hadn't noticed he was next to her. Embarrassment filled her as she knew Justin was glaring daggers at him from behind her.

"This happens every year?" she smirked. "Poor Thor."

"I think he secretly likes it." Bucky shrugged. "If it makes Loki included, he'll fall for it again and again."

She thought about that. Thor was truly a good brother, probably on Pietro's level of awesome sibling-ship. She held a new respect for the guy - not that she didn't before.

"Bucky!" Sam beckoned him over.

"Why is it every time I talk to you tonight, I get called away?" he chuckled. "See ya."

"See ya," she replied, watching him walk away.

* * *

 _Bucky's POV_

 _He walked over to Sam, who was currently attempting to arm wrestle a sticky Thor and apparently needed a referee._

" _Why couldn't you get Steve to do it?" He asked. "Or anyone else?"_

 _Sam sighed. "Steve is helping Frigga with something, and you were closest. Now judge."_

 _He shook his head in defeat, half watching the match and half thinking about what he'd seen earlier between Wanda and Justin._

 _He'd been standing next to her, eager to count down the New Year. Justin appeared behind her, and a part of him he desperately willed to go away watched jealously as she leaned into him. Then, they had almost kissed._

 _Almost._

 _But she hesitated - why would she hesitate? She seemed pretty happy in her relationship, but why didn't she want to kiss him? It was definitely there, the hesitation. She closed her eyes but didn't move, as if to steel herself for it. As far as he had seen, most girls generally liked kissing their boyfriends. Especially in a memorable way, such as ringing in the New Year. But then again, it was probably the part of him that knew he had a thing for her clinging to any reason why she shouldn't be with Justin. It was probably nothing, and furthermore, none of his business._

 _Thor slammed Sam's hand down, flat on the table. "Sam loses," Bucky declared before walking away._

* * *

The night had been a relative success, in Wanda's eyes. She had a great time with her friends, and was on good terms with her boyfriend. She'd managed to evade the kiss, which she surprisingly had to credit to Darcy and Loki, of all people.

Soon after the countdown, Justin had taken off. He offered to walk her home, but she declined in favor of spending the rest of the night sleeping over at the Odinsons'. She'd left some extra food out for Kovi, so he would be fine for the night. Justin kissed her on the cheek goodbye and then left. Now it was just her and her friends.

So as she curled up in her sleeping bag on the floor, wedged between Pepper and Sif, she finally allowed herself the time to ponder her relationship.

Something just didn't feel right between them. He would act all possessive and demanding, making her not want to be around him. But then he would be sweet again, and she was sick of the inconsistency. She sighed. With everything going on at home, she didn't need this complication in her life, too.

 _Maybe I should break up with him,_ she thought to herself. Then she looked over to a sleeping Darcy, remembering how proud the girl had been of convincing her to go for it. _I'll give him another week, but if nothing changes then I'll dump him,_ she promised.

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait, but another chapter! Whoo! This one was actually pretty fun to write, with all of the POV switches. Let me know what you think in the reviews! Constructive criticism is always welcome, of course.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Damn, I can't write Papa without that song going through my head. GRRRRR. But that's not the reason why this is so late. School, and chores, and taking care of all my animals, and horse training, and massive writers' block, and Riverdale have all contributed to my tardiness. It makes me smile to see people still care about this, even when I've been so inactive. I promise that I will finish this story, in time.**

* * *

-Chapter 18-

The loud ringing of the school bell was a sound Wanda simultaneously dreaded hearing again, but also was relieved to hear. Dreaded, for the obvious reasons: homework, grades, etc. However it also served as an escape - a sanctuary where Papa and his beers could not reach.

"We need to _do_ something this semester." Sam stressed.

Pepper looked up from the book she was reading. "Did we not ' _do something'_ last semester?"

"Let's go out for track and field!" Sam nearly shouted, completely ignoring Pepper's question.

"Thought about this much?" Wanda asked sarcastically, hardly looking up from the tea she was stirring courtesy of the Marvel High Healthy Breakfast Initiative. It mostly just tasted like hot water. However the horrible tea was one-hundred percent worth seeing Principal Fury give the mandatory lecture on healthy eating habits.

"We should all do it." Sam insisted. "It will be fun."

"Yeah, I don't think so." Loki looked disgusted with the idea.

"Come on, anyone? Darcy?"

Darcy snorted. "Sorry, fellas. I don't run."

"Tony?" Sam pleaded.

Tony scratched the back of his neck, as if he were thinking about it. "Yeah, um… Sorry, Sam. Bruce and I have a- uh- a science project to work on."

"I'll do it," Jane volunteered. "It actually sounds fun."

"Traitor!" Darcy shouted. "Running is torture."

Jane turned to Pepper, Nat, and Wanda. "Who's with me?"

Nat groaned. "Fine, I guess so. Only if it doesn't get in the way of my martial arts training."

"Do you _need_ more training?" Tony asked. "You're terrifying enough as it is." Natasha only gave a grin, looking like a cat about to catch the canary, in response.

"Okay, I'm in." Pepper smiled.

Wanda nodded in agreement. "I'll do it." She wasn't the most athletic, but some running would be good for her.

"Great!" Sam clapped his hands together, glaring at the ones who declined and those who pretended not to hear the question altogether. "At least some of us know how to have fun."

Clint glared right back. "The day you see me in running shorts is the day I die."

"You're going to be buried in running shorts?" Darcy asked.

"It's an expression, Darce." Loki explained, patting her on the head like she were a child.

Wanda's blood ran cold as she remembered something she hadn't thought of - the track uniform. The running shorts and tank top would certainly _not_ hide the bruises on her arms, legs, and shoulders. And she knew for a fact that she currently had a large one on her lower thigh, causing pain every time her dark jeans rubbed against it. She would have to figure something out.

"So when are tryouts?" Jane asked.

Sam pointed to a flyer on the wall a few feet away. "Tomorrow afternoon."

Wanda heaved a sigh. _Good_. She had until tomorrow to think of a solution.

Justin showed up to walk her to class. She felt like a terrible girlfriend, because she spent the whole walk in silence, wondering when the cute new boy started looking more like a nerd with huge specks. He kissed her goodbye, but it lacked the excitement she had always thought she should feel. But she had enough problems for the moment.

She spent the entire school day racking her brain for what she would do about the track uniforms. Getting home, she immediately went into her bathroom and tried something she'd only seen done in makeup tutorials. Thankfully, Papa was nowhere to be found in the house.

Concealer and foundation were applied to her left leg, until the skin tone evened out and the angry marks barely noticeable. If she held her leg out far away, you couldn't tell anything was wrong at all.

Her hopes sank however, as she realized that she'd just used most of her concealer to do one leg. Even if she had an unlimited supply of makeup, how would she do this before every practice? It wasn't practical. Then there was the issue of her rubbing or sweating it off…

Whatever she was going to do, she better think it up before tomorrow afternoon rolls around.

 _You could just tell them._

Upheaval. That would be the result of setting free the truth she'd kept so carefully guarded from everyone. Papa would likely be arrested, her and Pietro into the foster system and probably separated. If she told them, the track uniform would be the least of her worries.

She wasn't ready for that.

So she washed her leg off, watching the wasted makeup swirl down the drain with a frown. She was running out of her mother's old concealer as it was, and this certainly wasn't helping her cause.

* * *

The next day, she woke up fifteen minutes before her alarm usually went off. It was a very rare occasion that that happened.

She walked out into the living room, relishing the extra time before she had to get ready. She made it halfway there before spotting Papa seated on the couch. Summoning up the courage to keep walking, she reminded herself that Pietro was still home and he wouldn't be trying anything for the moment. She was safe.

It still didn't stop the shiver from running down her spine, right under a particularly nasty bruise, as he turned his head and noticed her.

He only grunted in greeting, bringing the ever-present beer bottle to his lips and taking a swig.

She stood there in awkward, nervous silence. Playing with her pajama top, counting the cracks in the walls - anything to keep her eyes off of _him_.

"You get a job yet?" That was all he asked. Like she was no use if she wasn't feeding money into his alcoholism.

"N-" _Speak confidently._ "No, Papa. I haven't had the time to look."

He grunted. It seemed to be his favored form of communication these days. "Better get to looking soon. Cash is running low."

As much as she wanted to scream at him that it was _his_ job to be providing - at least for basic necessities like food and rent -, as appealing as telling him to get off his ass and _do something_ seemed, it would only make things worse for her in the long run. "Ok, Papa," she whispered.

Pietro walked in, and she prayed Papa would let the subject drop. While Papa was certainly open about sharing his problems, Wanda purposely kept Pietro out of the loop that he was pressuring her to get a job, because being the saint of a brother he was, he would volunteer to work himself to the bone. He already provided enough with his part-time job.

"Hey, Wanda." He greeted her much more warmly than Papa had, smiling slightly as he yawned. It was clear that he wasn't quite awake yet. "You're not usually up yet."

"I woke up early," she replied.

He feigned bewilderment. " _My_ sister, up before me? The world must be ending!" He finished dramatically, moving over to the kitchen.

"Not on purpose! And I do not sleep in that much!" The mindless bickering was the one thing that seemed to stay constant in her daily family life, and a part of it she would continue to happily participate in.

"Sure, you don't." He rolled his eyes. "What's for breakfast?" He asked.

"I think there is a box of cereal in the cupboard."

He opened the cupboard and took out the box of some knock-off brand she'd selected only for the mini marshmallows. Visibly frowning at the lightness, he gave it a shake. "Empty."

She looked back at Papa for a split second, but he was busy looking into the depth of his morning beer. She sighed, "I guess I will have to pick some more up later."

"Do we not have anything else?"

Scratching her head, she tried to think. There honestly wasn't much else to eat in the house. They had two microwave lasagnas in the freezer, but those were for dinner. They didn't have time to make them, anyways. The cheese bites had been finished off, along with the few apples she'd gotten for a good deal. It looked like there was nothing. "I don't know, Pietro."

He frowned. "Well, I got some good tips yesterday. Want to stop at Taco Bell on the way to school?"

She grinned. "Yes, please!"

He smirked, turning to disappear back down the hallway. "Then you better get ready, or I'll go without you."

She walked quickly to her room and started getting dressed. January was pretty chilly, so she bundled up with several layers.

By the time she was done, Pietro was waiting for her at the door. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," he grinned. "So slow."

She arrived at school, finishing up her burrito and before she could blink first period was already over. Then second, and third. The track meet kept rolling closer, still without a solution.

On the way to the locker rooms after school, she tapped Nat on the shoulder. "Hey, do you know if we _have_ to wear the uniform?" She asked timidly. If Nat decided to ask for a why, she didn't have one and would undoubtedly stutter out something even more suspicious-sounding.

The curly redhead furrowed her brow, before shaking her head. "No, not today. That's just for the meets."

A nearly-audible sigh of relief left her lips, and she smiled slightly. "Ok, good."

"Why, you forget to shave your legs?" Darcy piped up, suddenly appearing behind them.

"Jesus!" Wanda almost dropped the pen she'd been fiddling with, having been startled. "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't run?"

"I still don't. But I can still support my besties!" She dramatically threw one arm around Jane and one around Wanda.

"Hey!" Nat snapped. "What about me?"

"Nothing personal - I'm just out of arms," Darcy apologized.

Freshly changed into her PE leggings and thin but long-sleeved shirt, she was ready to run.

"Ready?" Sam caught up to them, emerging from the boys' locker room.

"As I'll ever be," Jane answered. "Why did I let you talk me into this?"

Sam didn't answer, instead jogging forward to greet Steve, still in his street clothes. "You sure you don't want to join us?"

Wanda rolled her eyes at his recruitment attempts. Bucky, who had been talking to Steve prior to the interruption, rolled his eyes and made his way over to Wanda after having spotted her. "Hey, Scarlet. Looking sporty," he teased.

She shoved his arm. "I'm in my PE clothes."

He shrugged. "Close enough." His eyes lowered to narrow on her choice of footwear. "You're going to run in those?"

She looked down at her shoes sheepishly. She didn't actually have running shoes, so she had opted to wear her most comfortable pair of converse. They admittedly weren't great for much physical activity. "Why not?"

"You're going to kill your feet." He commented. Then he looked up, looking her in the eye. "Do you not have running shoes?" he comprehended the issue.

She maintained his gaze but twisted her bracelet around her arm sheepishly. "No, I don't."

"You should have said something," he said. "I have an older sister, Becca. She's in college now, but has tons of old shoes and stuff she left in the garage. I'll grab a pair for you."

She smiled. "Thank you, Bucky. You're a lifesaver."

He nodded and gave a smile. Wanda followed the rest of her friends trying out onto the track.

* * *

She would have to wait until the next day to make sure she'd actually made the track team, but she'd run well. She got sixth place in the girls' ranks. Just behind Pepper. They separated genders for the competitions, like in the tryouts, but for meets, the girls and guys would run together.

Pietro was home before she was, and she couldn't help but grin to herself at escaping any confrontations with Papa tonight.

"I already had dinner," he told her. "There's beans and rice on the stove."

"Thanks," she said, hungry. She grabbed a bowl and served herself.

"How did track go?"

"Pretty good," she said through her mouthful. "I think all of us made it."

They chatted for a little about school and such before he dismissed himself to go to his room and do homework. She was left alone on the couch.

Papa walked into the living room after she'd been sitting there for a few minutes, sneering at her. "Got a job, yet?"

"...Not yet, Papa."

He walked closer to her. Her heart began to race. _He can't do anything,_ she reminded herself. _Pietro's in the other room._ Still, the alcohol on his breath and his menacing look as he towered over where she sat made her want to run. But she held her ground.

He drunkenly swayed a bit, and she wondered if he might topple over on her.

He suddenly lurched forward, and she almost screamed. She might have if the next thing he'd done hadn't been so surprisingly disgusting.

He kissed her, right on the lips. It was so fast she wasn't even sure if it had happened, but it had. She shrank back into the couch in horror.

"What are you cowering at, bitch?" His voice was low. He knew that her brother couldn't know about this. They both knew that it would _not_ be pretty. "You should be thanking me. It's not like anyone else would ever do it."

Never mind that she had a boyfriend.

He left, stopping by the fridge to grab another Corona before lumbering back to his room. She sat there, still in shock. That would make two people that she didn't want near her lips to have kissed her today.

* * *

"Justin, it's fine. Just leave it alone." Wanda was sitting in the library during lunch with her boyfriend. He'd been flunking spanish, and practically begged her to tutor him in it. She spoke a few languages, but not of them spanish. She tried her best nonetheless. This study date was made more difficult not by her own lack of fluency, but her boyfriend's irritating desire to focus on anything but what they were working on. "Now come on and answer the question."

"Let me look at your phone, Wanda! You're my girlfriend and I want to know who you've been talking to!"

"Just shut up and ask me for the damn burrito already!" She shouted, much too loud for the library setting. She didn't care - he was getting on her nerves more than anyone had succeeded in doing in a _long_ time.

"Just let me see!" His voice matched hers, and in that moment she grew aware of exactly how prepubescent it sounded. He sounded like a child, not a man. And while she wouldn't judge someone by the sound of their voice, his childish actions were reflecting that observation.

"My phone is private, Justin." It's not like she hid anything on there, but it was the principal of it.

"Hand it over." He was glaring at her, and for a moment he reminded her of Papa. She shrank back a bit, reminding herself that this was not her house and the 'man' sitting in front of her was barely a boy.

"No," she growled.

He sighed, looking down at his lap before back up at her again. It was clear he was going to try a different approach. "Look, I've been a great boyfriend, letting you hang out with all of those friends of yours - those _male_ friends. I've done my best not to get jealous of you and them, not making a scene when you choose to sit with them at lunch instead of me. Any other guy wouldn't let his girl hang around Tony Stark, or Thor Odinson, or really any of the guys you hang around. So, I guess that I'm just a little insecure. You can understand that, can't you?"

She almost felt a little sympathetic for him, resisting the urge to point out everything she felt was wrong with what he just said. She wasn't his piece of property, and was it so wrong that she expected a guy to allow her to be friends with who she wanted? Was it so much to ask for some trust? But maybe that wasn't how it went. Maybe she was asking for too much. "You have no reason to be insecure," she put her hand over where his lay on the table in an act of reassurance. "I wouldn't cheat on you - that's not who I am. If you knew me at all, you would know that."

His face darkened slightly, but it was gone before she noticed it was there. "Could I just look, for a little peace of mind?"

She took a deep breath, overwhelmingly frustrated and his forgotten homework sat staring at her on the table. Reluctantly, she pulled her phone out of her bag. "Go nuts. You won't find anything in here."

He grinned, grabbing it from her after she unlocked it and immediately opening her texts.

She fiddled with his pencil as he scrolled through all of her messages, wondering if there was anything he might find in there that would turn into a bigger deal than it was. She didn't think so.

"What's this?" he asked, turning it around so she could see the screen.

She looked. It was her texts with Bucky, but she didn't see anything wrong with them. "What about it? I was just texting him."

"At two in the morning?!"

The timestamp did in fact state that the conversation was at such an early hour. She tried to take the phone back, but his grip was tight. She just read the messages from where she sat. "I couldn't sleep, Justin. I texted a few people and he was the only one who answered."

"Bullshit," he spat. "Why wouldn't you text me, or your girl friends? Why him?"

Truthfully, it had been a few times where they'd texted in the middle of the night when she couldn't fall asleep. The first time that had been the truth, but whenever her body hurt too much to lay down or she had a particularly nasty nightmare, she would text him. He always seemed to be awake when she needed him to be, for some reason or another. His excuse was that he woke up every night for a glass of water, but she wasn't so sure. "I don't know, Justin. Why is it a big deal?"

His eyes flashed with something unmistakably dark. "Slut," he whispered under his breath.

She reeled back, her eyes clouding over as she remembered what Papa had done to her last night. "Shut. Up." Her voice was venomous, but on the inside she just felt weak.

A hand touched her shoulder. "Everything okay over here?" Bucky.

"Um, yeah." Justin lied, returning himself to the usual dorky persona he always wore. "We were just having a conversation."

She didn't miss it now, the way he would glare daggers at Bucky when he wasn't looking. "Wanda?" Bucky turned his gaze to her. "Everything good?"

"Yes." she answered quickly. "Fine." She didn't see her relationship with Justin lasting much longer, so there was no point in making a big deal over it.

He nodded, and she couldn't tell if he was satisfied with her answer but he didn't press further. "We were gonna go see the new runners on the track team, remember?"

She'd forgotten. "Right! Sorry," she picked up her bag and slid Justin's unfinished homework towards him. She moved to follow Bucky out, along with Steve who'd been hanging around in the background.

"Wait," she stopped, spinning around to the disgruntled boy she'd left at the table. "I need my phone."

Justin's fake smile faltered, but he handed her back the device. "Here, babe."

She took it from him, going back to follow her friends out.

"Why did he have your phone?" Steve asked.

She didn't know what to tell him. She would've lied, saying he was using the calculator app, but that wouldn't have worked because a) they were working on spanish, and b) her phone had been downgraded to a flip phone when they couldn't afford to pay for the smartphones anymore. "He was just looking at things."

"He went through your phone?" Bucky's voice was lowered, suspicious.

"Yeah," she replied simply.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "He gets… insecure." She used the same word that he'd used before. It sounded like an even dumber excuse now than it did when he'd said it.

Bucky made a noncommittal grunt, obviously thinking the same.

"Of who?" Steve pressed further. "Of us?"

"Of all of you," she admitted. "He saw that we'd texted in the middle of the night. He wasn't too happy."

"He thinks you would cheat on him? Anyone who has spent five minutes with you would know that you would never-"

"I know, Buck." You cut him off, internally grinning as he voiced your exact thoughts. "Can we leave it for now?"

The boys both nodded. She sighed peacefully, relishing in the fact that at least there were a few people in her life that respected her boundaries. They made their way to the outside of the gym, where the rest of the group was already crowded around a list posted on the wall.

"You made it, Wanda," Jane pulled her inside the group. "Guess who else made it."

She shrugged. "Sam, probably."

"Yep."

"And you."

"Yes again."

"Pepper and Nat. Oh, and Pietro, too."

"Yes to all of those. Who else?"

"God, please don't say Hela." she groaned.

"Nope, thankfully." Jane smirked.

Darcy shouted, "ME!"

"What?!" Tony gawked. "You don't even run!"

"But I'm mean at the softball throw."

Wanda laughed. "I can't believe you made the track team without having to run."

"That's Darcy for you," Sam rolled his eyes. The group looked over this list one more time in search of any other names they cared about, before dispersing to go home.

* * *

 **Short, I know, but at least it's something. Next one hopefully coming soon!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Sitting in Jane's room with Darcy, Jane, Pepper, Bucky, and Wanda herself, the group had a pretty intense game of truth or dare going. They'd already exposed Pepper for making out with Tony, uncovered that Darcy wore pull-ups until the second grade, and forced Bucky to lap dance on Jane's large stuffed panda.

The five of them had ended up there after the first track meet. Wanda had been thrilled to discover that instead of the running uniform she was allowed to wear black or red leggings and a long-sleeve under the uniform t-shirt. She'd asked Coach Hill under the guise of getting cold easily. After their meet, the aforementioned few decided to go to Jane's with the exception of Natasha and Sam, who both had other places to be. Bucky had been hanging around the school with Steve and offered to walk with them.

Hydra taggings were becoming more common, and a large octopus had been graffitied across the side of a shop by the school. That and the ominous-looking sky, ready to drench them any minute, made Wanda feel just a little safer with him around.

Well, if they were to run into any gang activity, they would be even safer with Nat or Thor by their side. But close enough.

"Wanda, truth or dare?" Darcy asked through a mouthful of buttery popcorn. She sat on Jane's beanbag, with Bucky laying across the bed, Pepper sitting at the foot, and Jane and Wanda in differing positions on the floor.

"Truth," she answered mostly because she didn't feel like doing anything that would involve removing herself from her comfty position.

"Spill _all_ of the details on you and Justin."

She groaned, swallowing her bite of licorice before answering. "I think I'm gonna break up with him."

"How come?" Pepper asked, concerned.

"That's another question." Wanda pointed out.

Jane tsked, shaking her head. "Game is paused until you tell us."

Wanda rolled her eyes. "He's just not… great. I don't know. Hanging out with him feels like a chore, and that's just not what I'd envisioned loving someone to be like."

Bucky wasn't saying anything, listening intently from his position on the bed.

"What's wrong with him?" Darcy asked bluntly.

 _Where to start?_ "The main thing is he's insecure. He hates that I hang out with you guys so much. He thinks I'll cheat on him." She exchanged a glance with Bucky. He'd seen this yesterday. "He's immature. He tries to be controlling, and he can be a bit manipulative, but it mostly comes off as him acting childish. I'm not sure - maybe my standards are too high. I don't have any experience at this."

"No," Bucky said finally. "I don't know what your standards were, but they aren't high enough. You deserve someone perfect." His face looked genuine, his eyes piercing into hers.

She blushed, a little smile gracing her features. "Thanks, Buck." She stuffed another piece of licorice into her mouth.

"You should dump him, Wanda. I'm serious." Pepper told her.

"I know. I'm going to." Wanda nodded.

"When?" Jane asked. "You need help doing it?"

"Why would she need help?" Darcy furrowed her brow. "Just say 'You're dumped! Goodbye.'"

"Sometimes it's not that easy," Wanda told her. "But he doesn't scare me, and this is something that I should do myself."

"You sure?" Bucky asked, sitting up slightly. "I- we can be there if you need it."

"I'm okay, really." She reassured. She was really telling the truth. Justin didn't scare her - she was more worried about hurting his feelings than anything. He wasn't threatening, not like Papa. And lately she'd been finding everyone a little threatening.

Even something like Bruce tapping her on the shoulder, she flinched. She couldn't help the responses anymore. When someone was frustrated with her, which wasn't often, she would find herself shaking slightly. She hated what he did to her, how weak he made her feel. She wished it would just stop, let her life put itself back together again. But she couldn't risk losing all she had left.

"Hello, Earth to Wanda?" Jane was waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?" She snapped out of her thoughts.

"When are you dumping him?" She repeated.

"Tomorrow," Wanda spoke decisively. "Before school."

* * *

 _Meet me by the far picnic table before classes?_ She'd texted Justin half an hour ago, and still no response. She sat there, waiting. There was still fifteen minutes before she had to go to class - if he came now, she could still do it.

She wanted to get it over with. This was one short chapter of her life she'd like to have end.

She spotted him walking up to her, finally. He sat on top of the table next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, babe," he greeted.

She sighed at the pet name. He wasn't going to make this easy, was he? She needed to hurry up and kick this puppy or she would lose her resolve. "We don't have a lot of time, but-"

He cut her off, by kissing her. His hands went to move lower, as he mumbled, "I like where this is going…"

She gently shoved him aside, which wasn't a problem as he didn't weigh much. "No, we need to talk."

"What is it?" he leaned back, looking rejected.

"I think we should break up," she stated, quick and to the point. There was no use in drawing it out. "I'm sorry, but I just don't see us working."

His face went unreadable, which was odd because he was usually an open book. After a long pause, "Did your friends tell you to do it? Did _Barnes_ tell you to do it?" he seethed.

"No, Justin. This is my choice. I'm sorry."

He jumped to his feet, pacing in front of her. "I don't understand. I made you a picnic, I've taken you on dates… Don't you feel like you owe me something for all the trouble I went through?"

"Owe you something?!" her blood boiled. Who did he think he was? "I don't _owe_ you anything! That is _not_ how this works. This isn't some trade. I feel sorry for you if you think that way."

"Come on, Wanda! What have I done to you that was so wrong? I was perfect to you! You could at least give me something."

"Like what?!" She shouted, exasperated. "Justin, I was going to give you the whole 'you're a nice guy and it's not you' spiel, but you're kind of being an asshole right now. We're over and I 'owe' you nothing!"

She stood, grabbing her bag and walking away from him.

She caught up with Jane and Darcy as they were heading to first period. "Did you do it?" Jane asked.

"Are his hopes and dreams crushed?" Darcy grinned.

"Ummm, yes?" She answered, uncertain. She'd dumped him, but wasn't sure about the hopes and dreams part.

"Good job, Wanda," Jane threw an arm over her shoulders. This time she didn't shy from the contact. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," she said as they entered the biology classroom.

* * *

School progressed as usual, as Wanda felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. She didn't feel the need to go say hello to Justin and act the part of his girlfriend. In fact, she didn't see him at all that day.

They were all sitting at lunch, today inside the cafeteria as it was raining. Wanda sat between Bruce and Loki, across from Pepper. They ate their food, talking loudly over the noisy cafeteria.

"Are you going to finish that?" Wanda pointed to Bruce's muffin, sitting untouched.

He looked up at her. "No, you want it?" He pushed it closer to her. "Did you not bring a lunch?"

She looked down at her lunch tray. She'd been relying on the free lunches for food, but Marvel High was in a nicer part of town and very few of the families there were on reduced or free lunches. It wasn't made much of a priority, and on some days she was only given the bare minimum. Most students just took it as a snack. Today she had only a piece of toast and a fruit salad.

"No," she admitted. She didn't have to lie about such things in front of Bruce. He always understood.

"Take it," he told her. "I'm not that hungry."

She smiled in thanks, biting into it. It was chocolate chip, her favorite. Her gaze went back to her friend, looking like he was curling in on himself. He fidgeted, pulling his sleeves further over his hands.

"You okay?" she whispered to him, not wanting to cause a scene while he seemed so uncomfortable.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I- I'm gonna go outside."

"I'll come," she offered, standing to follow him out. "I'm going to get some fresh air," she excused herself from the group.

They stepped outside, protected from the rain by the overhang. He leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths.

"Are you alright?" she asked, putting a hand on his arm.

He regained control of his breathing. "I'm- I'm good. I just get anxious sometimes."

"You do?" she furrowed her brow. "I didn't know that."

He nodded, almost back to normal. "Just in crowds and stuff. I don't like having a lot of people around."

"These are panic attacks, right?"

"Yeah." He told her. "That wasn't a very bad one. Sometimes I hyperventilate and shake. I've almost passed out a few times."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He gave her a smile. "I haven't told anyone else."

She wrapped her jacket tighter around her in an attempt to keep out the wind, shifting her stance so her long hair wasn't whipping into her face. "Not even any of the others?" He shook his head. "Why are you telling me this?"

He shrugged. "Why not? Someone might as well know." He faced her, looking her in the eyes. It was made easy as they were about the same height. "I think you and I understand each better than some of our friends can. I don't know what happens inside your house and you don't have to tell me, and if it's anything like I went through then you do a darn good job at hiding it. But in a lot of ways you remind me of me - many of them I wish you didn't."

She didn't quite understand what he meant, and her look must've reflected it.

"I mean that I wish you didn't do the same things I used to, like not having food and flinching when you're touched. I see it all, and I don't know why or what your life's like. But if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

She didn't say anything, just stepped forward and hugged him. He returned it. "I'm here, too," she told him.

When he pulled away, he gestured back towards the cafeteria. "Want to go back in?"

"You'll be okay?" she asked, worried.

He reassured her that he would, and then walked back through the door towards their table. As soon as they were in the room, they were met with chaos.

Wanda and Bruce ran to their table, where people were crowded around. Vice Principal Coulson called out, "Move, give her space!"

As some of the crowd backed away, she could see more clearly. Pepper was laying on the ground, her face bright red as she coughed. She looked like she was choking. It wasn't until she saw the discarded epipen on the ground that she understood she was having an allergic reaction. Tony sat on the ground next to her, looking terrified.

"W-what happened?" she stuttered as Darcy moved to stand next to her, grabbing her hand nervously.

"Pepper's allergic to strawberries," she answered. "There wasn't supposed to be any in her fruit salad but it must've been cross-contaminated…"

"Is she going to be okay?" Wanda 's heart raced, scared for her friend.

"I don't know," Darcy gripped her hand tighter.

An ambulance wailed outside, and Coulson pushed through the sea of anxious students to direct the paramedics inside. Fury ordered everyone to leave as they rushed in. They watched from outside as Pepper was brought out in a stretcher.

* * *

Coulson informed over the speakers later that day that despite suffering a severe allergic reaction, Pepper would be fine. She was staying in the hospital for twenty-four hours for observation, but friends would be allowed visitation after school.

Things were tense in the group, but everyone relaxed a bit after the announcement.

That is, until they were walking through the halls and Wanda overheard something that made her furious.

Hela was talking and laughing with once of her friends, as she loudly exclaimed, "Did you hear what happened to Pepper Potts today? She ate a strawberry, then turned into one!" She laughed, her words echoing through the halls.

Wanda's nails dug into the palms of her hands. She turned to Tony who was walking next to her, gauging his reaction.

It wasn't pretty. His face turned red, as he shouted, "Shut up!"

Hela turned, grimacing when she saw them. "Look, it's strawberry's friends."

Wanda wasn't one to get into fights. She never had been, and she hoped that she never would be. She preferred to avoid confrontation. But she'd been walking with Tony, Sam, Steve, and Loki, and she knew that none of them would stoop to hitting a girl. She stormed up to Hela, trying to make herself look intimidating. "Leave her alone, Hela."

"What are you going to do about it?" Hela's eyes flashed, and she seemed more amused than frightened.

She'd been pushed too far today. If Hela took it any further, Wanda was going to do something she would regret. She'd had a rough morning with Papa and the bruises forming to prove it, had to dump Justin and discovered that he was much more of an asshole than she'd realized, and watched one of her best friends nearly die. Now Hela had the nerve to joke about it. "Don't test me," she hissed. "Just leave Pepper alone. Leave all of my friends alone!" Her voice was raising along with her emotion.

"Make me, peasant girl," Hela prodded. "Or are you going to go back to hiding in your bomb shelter?"

Her first thought was how had Hela learned about her history in Sokovia? She had to have really pried to find that about her, because she'd only told a few people and knew Pietro had done the same. Second, was why did she happen to be the only one overhearing that could and would stand up to her? Darcy and Natasha both would've been willing to clobber her, make her shut her goth mouth. Even Jane would be helpful, because she was ninety percent of the group's impulse control. These thoughts flew through her head in the split second before her fist shot out and struck Hela across the jaw.

The taller girl looked startled for a second, before leaping forward and tackling her to the ground. She landed hit after hit on Wanda, before the two were dragged apart from each other.

Wanda yelped in pain as Tony dragged her away, causing him to let go. "You okay?"

"Geez, girl. Didn't know you had that in you!" Sam exclaimed.

"Neither did I," she replied, ignoring Tony's question. He'd jostled one of her bruised ribs, not something Hela had done.

A booming voice cut through the shock of what she'd just done. "Principal's office, now!" Their eyepatched principal looked furious, before turning and stalking back to his office.

"Shit," Wanda cursed.

Bucky happened to be walking by, seeing Wanda on the ground and Fury's anger directed towards her and Hela. He jogged over, "What happened?"

"It seems Hela was making some comments about our friend in the hospital," Loki started explaining.

"Wanda just beat the shit out of her!" Tony exclaimed.

"Not quite true," she took a shaky breath. While Hela wasn't the strongest, she did manage to land some nasty hits on old injuries.

"Damn, how hard did she hit you?" Bucky's eyebrows raised as he took in her pain, helping her up off the ground.

"I'm fine," it seems like she was saying that a lot lately, when in fact she was far from it. "I've got to go to Fury's office now."

"We'll wait for you," Steve offered.

"No, no," she waved. "You guys should go visit Pepper. I'll meet you there." They were silent, and she knew Tony was itching to go see his girlfriend. " _Go,_ " she stressed. "Seriously, I'm good."

"You guys go," Bucky said. "I'll wait for her."

"You don't have to," she started, but he interrupted.

"But I will. Now get in there before Fury pops a vein."

She nodded, walking slowly into the office. This was a talk she really didn't want to have.

Principal Fury and Hela already sat in there, and Wanda internally high-fived herself at seeing a dark bruise already forming across Hela's jaw.

"Hela, you first. Tell me exactly what just happened." Fury's tone was stern, and his one eye maintained a steely gaze.

Hela launched into her story. "I was just talking with some friends, expressing my relief over Ms. Pott's recovery. Wanda just walked up to me all pissed off and slugged me! I was only defending myself."

Fury nodded, turning his eye to Wanda. "And what's your story?"

Wanda gulped. She wasn't going to fabricate some tale like Hela did where none of this was her fault and she was the innocent victim. "Sir, I overheard Hela joking about Pepper's allergic reaction, saying 'she ate a strawberry then turned into one,' and I told her to stop. She taunted me, made a joke about my past and then I hit her. She tackled me and now we're here."

Fury sat back in his seat. "You initiated this confrontation?"

"I was provoked." Wanda explained.

"You initiated the physical fight, didn't you Ms. Maximoff?"

"Yes, sir." She looked down. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. "These things are hard, girls. There are three sides to every story: yours," he looked at Hela, "yours," he turned to Wanda, "and what actually happened."

Wanda nodded.

"Mortem, you've been in my office a few times for disruptions similar to this - I don't believe you are as innocent as you are telling me. Maximoff, you are a good student and except for being indirectly involved in one other altercation I've never had any reason to believe I would be seeing this kind of behavior from you. However you admitted to throwing the first punch, so I'm going to have to punish the both of you. One week of detention, starting tomorrow. Today's detention period is half over and I'm not that nice. You are dismissed."

She stood up, leaving the office. She'd forgotten that Bucky would be waiting for her.

"Hey, was Fury hard on you?"

She shook her head. "Not too bad. One week of detention."

"At least you weren't suspended."

Thankfully. She didn't know what she'd do home alone with Papa for a few days straight.

"Ready to go see Pepper?" she changed to subject.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Hospital is probably a fifteen minute walk from here. Is that okay with you or would you rather I had my mom come drive us?"

"We can walk," she said. She followed his lead, not knowing where the hospital was.

She hissed as her arm bumped against her side.

"You okay?" he asked, stopping. "Did you get hurt?"

That was a understatement. "No, I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine. Maybe you should get checked out."

"It's only a bruise," she told him firmly. She couldn't get checked out - it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that the majority of her injuries didn't happen during the fight.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

She paused, before sighing and rolling up her shirt. She only rolled it to just past the first visible bruise, located on her hip.

His breath hitched. "That looks bad."

She considered it pretty minor compared to the others littering her body, but shrugged. "It doesn't hurt that bad." She rolled her shirt down before she could accidentally reveal more to him. "Only when I bump it."

"If you say so," he started walking again. He changed the subject, which she was grateful for. "What did you get on the biology homework?"

"An A," she answered. She remembered that assignment - it had been a hard one, but she couldn't sleep much last night and had spent a good portion of the night making it perfect.

"Damn, I got a C." He frowned. "How did you get such a high grade?"

"I worked a long time on it," she shrugged.

"How about after we see Pepper I'll buy you pizza and you help me with the homework?"

She grinned, one of the first real smiles she'd had all day. "You have yourself a deal, Barnes."

* * *

Wanda had expected to walk in and find Pepper praising the gods for giving her a second chance, maybe some tears as she saw her friends. What she discovered after entering the white-walled hospital room, however, was a girl who was much more concerned with the fact that she's missed a few classes than that she'd nearly died a few hours earlier. But that was Pepper for you.

"I'm sure your teachers will allow you to make up your work," Jane assured her for the fifth time.

"Fine," Pepper groaned. "Wanda, I hear you got into a fight with public enemy number one?"

"Yep," Wanda said, popping the 'p.' She wasn't that proud of it, but everyone else seemed to think she was some badass.

"I wish I was there," Darcy cooed. "That must've been so cool."

"I wish you were there, too," Wanda nodded. "You could've done it for me."

"Or me," Natasha pounded her fist into her hand. "I would love to spill some whiny, Evanescence-loving, green-fetish blood."

"Stop!" Darcy cried. "You're scaring Loki!"

"I do _not_ listen to Evanescence!" Loki barked, looking insulted. Darcy laughed at his expense.  
"Can't deny the rest of it, though, can you Reindeer Games?" Tony grinned.

"I hate all of you," Loki deadpanned.

"Hey!" Pepper snapped. "No fighting in my hospital room!"

"All in good fun, Pep." Tony assured.

That was a few hours ago. Afterwards she'd gone to a local pizza place with Bucky and they worked on his homework. They finished it pretty quickly, so she'd gotten out her own and did it then. Then they just talked, mainly about random things. She always loved how easy it was to be around him.

Now she was standing in her driveway, having just been dropped off. She was torn between wanting to crash in her bed after a long day and walking far away from that house and her Papa. But Pietro's rusted bike was in the driveway, and that gave her the courage to walk inside.

She walked in, noticing Papa and Pietro on the couch, watching some old movie. It pained her to see her brother and her tormenter so cozy with each other.

Papa turned in his seat, narrowing his eyes at her. "School called. Said you got in a fight?"

Pietro whirled around, mouth agape. "You were in a fight?! With who?"

"It was nothing, Papa," she stared down as if she were very interested in her sneakers. "Just some girl who was being disrespectful towards a friend."

"I told you that I didn't want any trouble out of you," he stood up. She tensed as he lumbered towards her, doing her best not to break down as he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed hard.

"I'm sorry, Papa," she whispered. Her face remained stoic despite the fact that his nails were drawing blood under her shirt. She wished she'd left her jacket on just a few minutes longer to provide some extra padding under his grip.

"I work hard for you kids," he spoke seriously.

 _Is that supposed to be a joke?_ "I know."

"All that I asked of you when we moved was for you to not get into any trouble." His sunken eyes stared straight into hers. "How come you don't listen to me?"

Her breathing was quickening, and she willed herself to stay composed. Pietro was in the room - nothing could happen. Papa wasn't stupid enough to hurt her in front of him. "I'll be better," she forced out.

He finally let go, and she could feel droplets of blood running down her skin from the nail marks, hidden by her dark shirt. "Good," he nodded. "I'm going to bed," he dismissed himself, walking to his room but not without grabbing the bottle of whiskey on the counter.

* * *

 _Darcy's POV_

" _I'm headed home," Tony stood up from his seat, stretching. Those who remained in Pepper's hospital room did the same. All that were left were Tony, Jane, Sam, herself, Loki, and of course Pepper._

 _Darcy remained in her seat. "I'm staying. I could use a few relaxing days away from la escuela and Pepper is in desperate need of company."_

 _Pepper rolled her eyes. "Go home, Darcy, and you better go to school tomorrow or I… I don't know yet but I will have a good bit of time here to think about it."_

 _Darcy groaned. "You really need to work on the delivery for your threats. If I didn't know you were serious I would totally not be listening."_

 _Pepper smirked. "Good thing you know better, then."_

 _Darcy hummed in agreement. "Bye, Pep. Try not to bore yourself to tears. Actually, do. Then remember that you could have your good old pal Darcy here but you sent her off to school." She stood up, finally leaving. "Loki, you're walking me home."_

 _Loki looked disgruntled at being ordered around, but followed after the quirky girl. "Bye, Darcy!" Pepper called out the door._

 _They exited the hospital, mostly silent. Darcy broke it after a minutes. "Hey, you were pretty social today. Apparently near-death experiences bring out the best in you."_

 _He gave a short laugh. "Might have to fake my own death a few times."_

" _If it's the only way to get you to go to a party, then go for it." She looked up at the overcast sky. If they were lucky, it wouldn't start pouring cats and dogs until after they were safely at home. They passed the shop that had been tagged earlier that week. "Ugh," she pointed to the red spray-painted octopus. "Why do people insist on doing that?"_

" _To leave a mark, to express themselves," Loki mused. "I take it you're not one to view it as art?"_

" _Absolutely not," Darcy shook her head. "I know you're one of those outsider type people, but please don't ever stoop to defacing property."_

" _You think so little of me," he commented, but he didn't sound offended at all. She knew that she could talk to him in ways that no one else, not even his brother, could without him getting frustrated with her. He was misunderstood, struggled a bit socially, and since everyone expected him to act one way he just fulfilled those expectations._

" _I don't," she said. "I'm just down a friend if you end up in juvie."_

 _He cracked a smile. "Then who would walk you home and protect you from the big bad graffiti?"_

" _I do not need protecting!" She snapped. "I only wanted the company, and we live kinda close."_

" _I thought you were scared? Is that not why I've been walking you home from school?"_

 _She shook her head. "Maybe I'm trying to catch up with you and it's hard to when you turn distant when anyone else is around." She looked down. "Okay, maybe I'm still a little shaken up after_ that _night," she admitted, "but that's not all."_

 _He nudged his elbow against hers in what she could only think to describe as affection, something that was oh-so-rare coming from him. "That's understandable - I'll walk you home as much as you need. And for some reason I enjoy this time we spend together."_

 _She nudged him back. "That's called being social, Finding Emo."_

" _Whatever," he grumbled back, a slight smile playing across his lips. There were a lot of things he rarely did, Darcy thought. One was a true, genuine smile. It was always a smirk, for one reason or another, but occasionally she would find him actually smiling. This was one of those times._

" _Your home, m'lady," he bowed dramatically as they walked up the steps to her house._

" _Thank you, good sir," she tipped her imaginary cap. It didn't work so well with a beanie. She noticed with a frown that it had just begun raining, and by the looks of the sky it was about to get a lot harder. "I guess you might as well come in," she opened her door. "Wait out the storm."_

 _He was about to disagree, wanting to go back to the comfort of his room, but as she pushed the door open his nose was greeted with the wafting aroma of Darcy's Nana's famous chocolate chip cookies. "I guess it couldn't hurt to stay a little while."_

" _Why would you bring him in here when I'm making cookies?!" Nana pointed her spoon angrily at Loki as he walked in the door. "He eats all the dough! Him and that loud brother," she frowned._

" _I was five!" Loki cried indignantly._

 _Darcy hadn't thought that her Nana would recognize him, as it had been so long since he'd hung around the Lewis' home much. Apparently she'd thought wrong. "I'm sure he has better impulse control now, right Lokster?" She could see the look in his eye every time she gave him a new nickname, and she loved it._

" _I wouldn't count on it," he mumbled under his breath. Louder, "If I had known the consequences would last over a decade, I might've reconsidered my actions."_

" _I never forget," Nana told. "I was positive that I was going to end up rushing you to the ER with salmonella, but you always survived it somehow."_

" _You'll have to kill me some other way."_

* * *

 **This chapter, I like it. ANOTHER!**

 **Quick PSA: I based Wanda and Justin's relationship on my friend and her boyfriend. Except they both have Justin-type qualities (controlling, manipulative, and insecure). They're so miserable together, and it's been that way for a year. A big part of love is trust. You should not have apps on each others' phones where you can see their location at all times, go through their texts/phone records/email/etc, call every 10 minutes and get pissed when they don't answer, and more. If anything like this happens in your relationship from either partner, it might be time to step back and reevaluate. Yes, relationships require some compromise and work. But they're not supposed to be THAT hard. You're not supposed to be miserable!**


	20. Chapter 20

**The response I've gotten to continue this is amazing! Thank you to everyone showing their support for this story - I honestly wouldn't have gotten this far with this fic without knowing you guys were enjoying it and wanting more. So thus, the first update of hopefully many more over this summer!**

Chapter 20

Wanda was dragging herself back to her room. Tears poured down her face as every movement felt like she was on fire. Her body ached all over, and she was certain he'd broken one of her ribs this time. Pietro had spent the night at Rhodey's, and left her home alone with their Papa.

The night started out weird. She had a terrible feeling when she got home from school that she shouldn't go inside, but she hadn't known that her twin would be gone - she waved it away as excitement that Pepper would be returning to school the next day. Everything felt off without her around. Yes, that was why she felt so wrong.

Then she'd gone inside, and Pietro wasn't there but Papa was, sitting on the couch in front of the television. He beckoned her over, wanting her to watch the game with him. She was too afraid to disobey, moving to sit next to him even though she didn't care about football. He watched, drinking and cheering, screaming at the television when something didn't go his way. The entire time she just sat still, her whole body flinching every time he moved fast or yelled. _I don't want to be here,_ was all that went through her head on repeat.

Papa's team lost, though she didn't know which one that was. He was furious, and took it all out on her.

She wondered if that was the only reason she was there, to be his punching bag if it didn't go his way. She wondered what he would've done if the stupid team had won - would he have simply cheered and let her go to bed? She wouldn't know.

She could barely breathe, and she couldn't figure out if it was because of the pain she was feeling or if it was related to her heart beating way too fast. She barely made it to her bed, her whole body shaking with tremors as she fought to breathe. This definitely wasn't normal, and it terrified her. Why was she reacting this way?

She fumbled for her phone, needed to call someone. 911 was the obvious answer, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was panicking. Maybe she was having a panic attack? She'd never had one before, but she was pretty sure they felt something like this. She was panicking, and she'd been attacked. Close enough, right? The rational part of her brain worked slowly, swimming upstream against the rest of her mind that was giving her every reason and scenario in which she would end up dying.

She hit the contact before she knew what she was doing.

"Wanda?" The person on the other end answered. "What's up? It's one in the morning." He sounded like she'd just woken him up, and she might've felt bad if she were more in control.

"B-... Bruce," she struggled out between fast, shallow breaths.

"What's wrong?" he sounded worried.

"Help," she whimpered. "P-panic." It would be a miracle if he managed to decrypt her message, but she couldn't get her mouth to function correctly. "Can't breathe."

"Panic attack?" She thanked whatever deity that happened to be listening that he understood. "I'll be there in five minutes. You're at your house, right?"

She tried nodding but realized that it wouldn't do much good. "Yeah… yes. Window."

"You got it. Just keep breathing, okay? I'll be there soon."

It felt like forever, and it wasn't stopping. She started to think she was having a heart attack. After what felt like hours, Bruce was climbing through her window.

* * *

 _Bruce's POV_

 _He crawled through the window of his friend's bedroom and was relieved to see that he chose the right one. He wasn't sure what sight would greet his eyes, but he knew that it was bad. She'd sounded hysterical on the phone. When he arrived, she was sitting on her bed, sobbing and looking like she couldn't breathe, which she probably couldn't. He knew the feeling all too well._

" _Hey, hey," he sat next to her, wrapping her in his arms and holding her close. "Breathe, okay? WIth me. In, out, in, out…" He continued this, and at first she was unable to maintain his slow and steady rhythm, but eventually she managed to regain control of her breathing. Around the same time, her tears stopped falling as quickly._

 _When she quieted to light sniffles, she spoke. "I'm sorry," her voice was raspy. "I didn't know who else to call."_

 _He had a feeling that wasn't the case, as there were a lot of good friends she could've turned to. She might not have realized it, but she wanted someone who could sympathize towards her. He tightened his arms around her, and in response, her head relaxed against his chest. "Don't apologize," he said. "I understand."_

 _She nodded._

 _When she didn't speak again, he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"_

" _No," she sighed. "Not really."_

 _He gulped. He'd always had his suspicions about what happened behind closed doors in the Maximoff household. Despite walking home with her on many, many occasions, she never once invited him inside. Maybe she was embarrassed about her home, but she lived in the same area he did and knew better than to think that he would judge. Some days it seemed she could barely move, like she were in a lot of pain but if that were true then she was too skilled at hiding it for him to find anything to confront her on. And then there was that day her drunken father showed up…_

 _He shoved all of his concerns and suspicions aside. He didn't know anything for sure, and panic attacks could be tricky - the cause might not even be related to anything happening at home. "That's alright. You know you can always tell me anything, though, right?"_

" _I know, Bruce," she whispered. "I wish I could."_

" _Why can't you?" He asked._

 _She pulled away slightly to look at him. "It's more complicated than that."_

" _What if it's not?" he countered. "What if I could help you?"_

 _She struggled for her next words, and he knew that he was playing a dangerous game, cornering her like this. But it seemed his initial fears were becoming more of a reality, with the clues piling up._

" _I just can't tell you," she pulled back completely and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry - I shouldn't have called you."_

" _No, you should have called me," he corrected. "Or anyone, a lot sooner. And you need to let people in so they can help you. You have plenty of people who care about you and something is going on but you're not letting us fix it."_

" _Bruce," she was shaking her head, clearly about to tell him that she couldn't._

" _Listen to me!" he said suddenly, a lot louder than expected. If he hadn't been surprised by the sound of his own voice, he would've seen her recoil backward. He didn't know when he'd gotten up, or when he had started to pace in front of her._

 _Her head was down, hands in her lap. She didn't look at him. "Please, just go."_

" _Wanda," he lowered his tone, kicking himself for reacting that way._

" _Go, Bruce." She spoke more firmly, still looking straight down. She added softly, "I'll see you at school tomorrow."_

" _I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have pressed." He waited for her response, but it didn't come. "Good night," he called as he slipped out her window. Still nothing._

* * *

Upon waking, Wanda groggily realized that she had neglected to change into pajamas last night. Or really, gotten in bed. She'd been curled up on the edge, her feet hanging over the side.

Memories of what had happened flooded her mind at once. She immediately felt horrible for the way she'd treated Bruce. He had come to her house in the middle of the night to help her, because _she_ had called _him,_ and then she hadn't even given him an explanation, just drove him out when he rightfully wanted to know what was going on.

Kovi jumped on her bed, nudging his head against her arm. She smiled at the cat. In her panic last night, she hadn't seen him. He must've hidden, scared by the noise Papa made throwing her around.

She went to get up, but every muscle in her body protested against it. The pain brought tears in her eyes and she lay back down, stroking her cat. "Maybe I'll take a day off," she said quietly. "Avoid my problems for a day."

Once the idea was in her head of staying home and relaxing, it was too good to give up. She pulled out her phone and texted Jane to let her know. She was the most trusted to bring back the homework.

 _Taking a sick day. Could you bring me the work?_

In a typical Jane fashion, she responded right away.

Jane: _Of course! Is everything ok?_

Wanda: _Yep! Just a little under the weather :)_

Jane: _Ok, I'll be by to drop it off after school. Feel better!_

She tossed her phone on the bed beside her, staring at the ceiling and contemplating everything that life had thrown at her recently.

* * *

 _Darcy's POV_

 _She waited impatiently outside of the Odinson house, holding the last brownie of the ones her nana had made. Loki'd made her promise to give him one more, and she'd spent the entire walk over resisting the urge to eat it. And now, standing outside his house after knocking three times, shivering because of the cold, feeling the brownie growing colder in her hands… It was so tempting…_

" _Darcy?" It was Thor who opened the door, not Loki. "What are you doing here?"_

" _Loki and I were going to walk to school - I saved him a brownie. Where is he?"_

 _Thor furrowed his brow. "Loki left a while ago, said he wanted to get there early to return a book."_

 _She muttered, "Asshole."_

" _I'll walk with you," he grinned his golden retriever smile._

" _Sounds good, Point Break," she shrugged._

" _So are you gonna..." he started saying. Anticipating what he was about to ask, she split the brownie in half, handing a piece over to him._

" _Thanks."_

" _No problem," she replied dully. A certain greasy-haired boy was currently pissing her off. She'd gone out of her way to walk to his house, and brought him a brownie, and he completely forgot._

" _So," Thor broke the short silence that began to culminate. He wasn't one for silences. "You and Loki are spending a lot of time together."_

 _She shrugged, "I guess."_

" _Is there anything going on between you two?" Thor asked curiously, almost sounding hopeful._

" _You mean besides me being pissed he asked me to bring him a brownie and then blew me off? Not really."_

" _Other than that?"_

" _No, Thor," she rolled her eyes. "We're friends - just like you and me."_

 _He nodded, obviously mulling it over in his head. She didn't particularly care enough to ask what he was thinking about._

 _Something in her peripheral vision grabbed her attention, and her feet stopped. Loki was standing down an alley, his back turned to them. "There he i-" the words died in her throat as someone else approached him, wearing a jacket with a red octopus emblem on it._

" _What are you looking at?" Thor asked, and she quickly shushed him as she watched the exchange._

 _She couldn't make out what they were saying, but he didn't appear to be threatened by the gang member. In fact, they seemed to be chatting about something. The stranger tossed something at Loki, and he caught it, shaking it. Then he turned to the wall, and began painting._

What the _hell?_

 _From her angle, she could barely make out that he was graffitiing an octopus. She turned to Thor, and his jaw clenched as he watched what was happening. He made a move forwards, like he wanted to confront his brother._

" _Thor, no," she whispered, dragging him by the arm away from the alley._

" _Loki- no. He- no. He wouldn't!" Thor shook his head vehemently as soon as they were out of earshot._

" _He just did!" Darcy whisper-shouted. "He's in a freaking gang, Thor!"_

 _Thor had a heart-breaking expression on his face._

" _What do we do?!" she asked him._

" _How should I know?" Thor asked._

" _You're his brother!"_

" _You're his friend!"_

 _Darcy groaned, tugging her beanie down further over her ears. "Do- do we call the cops?"_

" _And say what? 'Hi, my brother is in a gang and just vandalised a building. Please come arrest him immediately.'"_

 _Darcy shook her head. "I don't want him to get arrested, but we need to do something! This is serious!"_

" _I know, I know!" Thor agreed. "But we should just try talking to him first. Get the whole story."_

 _She nodded. "Okay, you're right. But for now, let's get out of here. Before they see us."_

 _They sprinted down the street - yes, Darcy actually ran!- , leaving Loki, the gang member, and the can of spray paint behind them._

* * *

 _Clint's POV_

" _I'm telling you, all you need to do is climb into the vents and you can totally see what Coulson does behind closed doors. The dude really needs to get a life besides being vice principal, if you ask me," he explained to Nat and Bucky, the only two still listening._

" _Do you do that often?" Nat scrunched her brow. "Is that where you go during your twenty minute bathroom breaks?"_

" _Maybe."_

 _Bucky laughed. "Ms. May is onto you, man."_

 _Clint rolled his eyes. "She's had it out for me all year! Did I tell you about the time she failed one of my assignments?"_

" _You mean because you lost it and tried to convince her that it was her fault?" Nat reasoned, unimpressed. "She doesn't have it out for you, but she's not a teacher you can pull a fast one on. Do that stuff in Mr. Ward's class."_

" _We talking about Mr. Ward?" Sam jumped in. "Hottest teacher in the school?"_

 _Nat smirked. "Toxic masculinity really isn't a thing with you, is it?"_

" _Hell, nah," Sam shook his head._

" _Especially when talking about Mr. Ward." Clint wiggled his eyebrows._

 _She groaned. "This is almost as bad as watching all the girls stare heart-eyes at him every day. Natasha is leaving the chat."_

 _Him and Sam high-fived, while Bucky chuckled to himself. Their moment was broken by Darcy and Thor, who came running up to them. Well, Thor was running. Darcy was doing a sort of half-jog whilst panting like a dog._

" _Hey, guys," he said, "What's u-"_

 _He didn't have time to finish before Darcy was blurting out, "Loki's in a gang!"_

 _The whole group went quiet, aside from Thor elbowing Darcy in the ribs._

 _Darcy squeaked. "What?! We decided we were gonna tell them!"_

" _A gang?" Tony asked. "What gang?"_

" _Hydra," Darcy replied quickly. "We saw him and another gang member graffitiing an octopus on the side of a building."_

 _The reactions to this revelation were varied. They ranged on a scale from confused and concerned to furious, and everywhere in between._

" _Wait, wait, wait," Sam spoke, appearing more on the confused end of the spectrum. "You're telling me Loki is in a_ gang, _Hydra?!"_

" _It's true," Thor confirmed guiltily._

 _Clint himself was pissed. They had welcomed Loki back into their group with open arms, allowing him to return to normalcy from his emo loner streak, and he goes behind their backs to do sketchy gang business. His fist tightened at his side. Hydra had been all over the news lately, doing bad things to their town. And wasn't it a group of Hydra thugs that had assaulted Darcy? Did he have a part in that? "What do we do?" He asked, keeping his voice even._

" _I think we should talk to him," Thor answered quickly._

 _Tony piped in, "I think he's had all the second chances he's going to get with us."_

" _He's my brother," Thor explained. "I will give him as many as it takes."_

" _Have you asked him that lately, or is he still denying any relations to you? And this is a gang, Thor. It's serious - we can't just have a little intervention and everything will be just dandy again." Tony argued._

 _Clint nodded. "If Loki's a member of Hydra and helping them do everything we've been seeing on the news, then he's too far gone."_

 _Clint noticed that after he said that, no doubt reminding everyone of what Hydra was capable of, the tension seemed to rise even higher than before. Thor and Tony were dangerously close to each other now._

" _I won't give up on him," Thor stated firmly._

 _Tony shook his head. "How long do you think he's been doing this? I'm sure that he got into the gang business when he exiled himself from the group. He was probably a part of it when those Hydra guys attacked Darcy. Maybe it was all a part of his plan - save Darce so we'll forgive him for being an ass. Or maybe not, and he didn't have anything to do with that. Either way, Hydra tried to rape our Darcy and Loki stayed with them anyways."_

" _Or maybe he's not doing this of his own free will," Thor fired back in defense of his brother._

 _Darcy, who had surprisingly been pretty silent, added, "He_ did _seem pretty chummy with that guy."_

 _Jane, ever the peacemaker, shouldered between Thor and Tony, effectively breaking the confrontation. "Look, I see how Tony could be right, but I agree with Thor. We don't know the whole story here and I think we should give him a chance to explain."_

 _Tony looked ready to object._

" _I'm not sure if I can forgive him for this if he is." Sam admitted._

" _It's not asking for you to forgive him, Sam." Peppers voice joined in the mix. "Just hear him out."_

 _Clint got the first good look at Pepper, and felt bad she had to deal with this on her first day back. She was still a bit pale and had slight purplish bags under her eyes from her incident._

 _Jane nodded. "Also, I'm not asking. I'm telling."_

 _Everyone seemed much more calm now that Jane had used her Mom-friend powers to take control of the situation. Clint felt his anger suppress itself, at least for the time being. He wouldn't pummel Loki - not yet._

 _The first to speak after Jane's verdict, he asked, "How are we going to get him to talk to us about it?"_

 _Jane thought for a second. She grabbed Darcy's arm, linking it with hers. "Darcy and I will set up an intervention after school today. Until then, nobody say a word to him. We don't want to scare him off."_

" _Maybe we do," Tony muttered under his breath. If anyone else heard, they elected to ignore it._

" _Act normal, got it." Sam said._

" _Everyone come to my house after school." Jane continued. "We will get to the bottom of this."_

" _If he is guilty as charged?" Clint questioned. "Then what?"_

 _Jane was silent, not having an answer._

 _Pepper came to her aid. "We'll decide that when we get to it."_

 _Everyone nodded in agreement of their plan._

" _Hey, where's Wanda?" Bucky asked suddenly._

" _She's sick," Jane answered._

 _Clint didn't miss the tiny exchange between Bucky and Steve after the question had been asked. He noticed the way Steve smirked at Bucky, shooting him a sly look as Bucky refused to meet Steve's eyes._

Okay, so there's totally something that I don't know about going on here, _he thought to himself. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the two in hopes of figuring out what it was._

" _Well, she's certainly going to be missing out on a lot today," Natasha sighed._

 _He was surprised that his normally so strong-willed and opinionated best friend had been so quiet through the discussion. But given the subject of the matter and Nat's past, he shouldn't have been. Hydra tended to understandably be a difficult topic for her._

 _His thoughts were interrupted as the very person they were talking about approached._

 _Loki came up to them, hopefully unaware of what they'd been discussing at length before he'd arrived. The group fell silent, with the exception of Bucky, Sam, Steve, and Pepper, who immediately began to talk about some random show they'd been watching on Netflix. Apparently they were the only good actors in the group._

 _Darcy mustered up a, "Hey, Loki."_

 _Loki threw back a, "Hey." He seemed slightly out of breath, as if he'd been running. Nothing like vandalism to make you run a bit behind schedule, Clint guessed._

 _The bell rang just then, sparing them temporarily of the awkwardness that would be acting as if they didn't know one of their close friends was a member of a dangerous gang._

 _Everyone dispersed, heading to their different classes._

 _Clint walked with Nat, as usual, heading to geometry._

" _Are you alright?" He asked quietly. He knew her well enough to know that she would never talk if there was someone listening._

" _Fine," she didn't look at him._

"Nat," _he pulled her aside down a less crowded hallway. "I know you're not."_

" _Don't worry about it, Clint." She still wasn't looking at him. "We're going to be late to class."_

" _Then talk."_

" _I'm_ fine, _Barton."_

"Natasha," _he stressed her name, daring her to meet his eyes._

 _Finally, she looked at him. "Okay," she sighed, conceding. "It's… hard. You happy?"_

" _You know that this is different."_

 _She snapped, her emotions finally shining through the walls she put up. "How is this different?! If they knew, they would treat me the same way they're going to treat him. And even you're having a hard time trusting him."_

" _Your associations with Hydra were in the past. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't hold it against you once they heard your side of things." Clint reassured her. It wasn't the first time they'd had a conversation like this. "You're right. Maybe I was a little quick to judge Loki. I don't know what's going on yet - I'll give him a chance."_

 _Natasha nodded, looking slightly calmer. "But what if Loki talks to anyone who knew me, then…" she trailed off, stuffing her hands in her sweatshirt pockets uncertainly._

" _It's going to be fine, Nat. That's a lot of 'what ifs' that would need to come to be."_

" _Okay," she breathed. "Okay, we should get to class now."_

 _She never let her walls down for very long. He wished that she would open herself up more, and to more people than just him, but she was still a million times more comfortable showing vulnerability than when he'd first met her. He slung an arm over her shoulders, leading them out of the hallway and towards their classroom. "Wouldn't be the first time I was late, and certainly not the last," he chuckled as they walked with the remaining stragglers. "But you're probably right."_

" _Aren't I always?"_

* * *

 _Bucky's POV_

 _He sat in Jane's living room, surrounded by his friends. For the most part everyone was quiet, waiting in silent anticipation of how their intervention was going to go._

 _Personally, Bucky was on the side of waiting to see what Loki had to say. Most wouldn't believe it, but he tended to be the voice of reason a lot of times. Being friends with fight-first-think-later Steve, he had to be._

 _The door opened, and it was Jane. She set her backpack by the door and came to sit on the couch with Steve, Bucky, and Pepper._

" _I just came back from Wanda's," Jane said. "I just dropped off her work."_

 _At just the mention of her name, Bucky brightened. He knew that he was hopeless for the Sokovian girl, and he was fine with it. "How is she?"_

" _Seemed okay," Jane shrugged. "She looked pretty tired. Have you noticed that about her lately?"_

Duh, _he thought. Of course he'd seen it._

" _Yeah," he said._

 _Pepper sighed. "Me too. I hope everything is okay with her."_

 _Bruce, who had been listening from his place cross legged on the floor, said, "Maybe she's just not sleeping well?"_

 _Bucky narrowed his eyes. The way Bruce said it was as if he were trying to deflect it. Did he possibly know something they didn't? Him and Wanda were pretty close - they walked to and from school together most days. With everything that seemed to be going wrong today, his head was spinning with the thought of something being up with Wanda as well. "Maybe," he shrugged._

" _I just wouldn't press her on it," Bruce said quickly. "You know, unless you know that something is wrong."_

 _Yeah, because_ that _explanation wasn't suspicious. "You don't think we should turn this into a joint intervention?" He joked._

 _Bruce's eyes widened. "Definitely not. Don't."_

 _Bruce was horrible at keeping secrets. He would never blabber, but it was very easy to tell if he was hiding something. And it very much looked like he was right now. But the other thing that Bucky knew to be true about Bruce was that he would_ always _help his friends. So if he knew something that was wrong with Wanda, as much as Bucky wanted to know what it was, he would trust Bruce to know what was best. He just hoped that it wasn't_ too _bad._

 _Jane flopped against the back of the couch. "I don't know, but I hope everything is fine. Like we need any more drama right now."_

 _Pepper 'hmm'ed in agreement. Although if they knew anything was going on, obviously they would do everything they could to help._

 _Steve looked at Bucky, raising a brow. "What?" Bucky asked, already half-knowing what he was thinking._

 _Steve only playfully shoved him back. At least of all people to know about his crush on Wanda it was Steve, who had the common decency to not share it with everyone._

" _What are you guys miming about now?" Jane rolled her eyes. "You know what? I don't have time for this. Don't want to know."_

 _They snickered to themselves, enjoying the inside joke._

 _The door opened again, and this time it got everyone's attention._

 _Darcy walked into Jane's with Loki by her side and the remaining chit chat halted._

 _Loki looked like a deer caught in the headlights as all eyes were on him. In his defense, it must've been pretty intimidating. "What's going on?" He asked warily._

" _Sit," Darcy commanded semi-gently. She pointed to a recliner that had become the designated hot seat._

 _Loki looked at her with a face conveying the utmost betrayal. "What," he emphasized, "is going on here?"_

" _I said sit, Rudolph." Darcy's tone was serious, despite the nickname. She was finally able to drop the facade she'd been wearing since seeing him in that alley._

 _Loki did as he was told, impressively. Sometimes it was doubtful if even Odin could get him to obey a command. "My question still stands."_

" _You're gonna find out soon enough," Tony grumbled._

" _Erm, Loki," Jane seemed unsure how to approach the topic. She had talked a big game about how they were going to sit down and hash it out, but now she seemed at a loss. "T-Thor," she stammered, giving up._

 _Thor cleared his throat, not expecting to suddenly be taking over. "Right, well… Loki, we saw you spray painting a wall with a Hydra member."_

" _Care to tell us what that's all about?" Tony asked loudly._

 _Loki looked about ready to bolt, but to his credit, he remained seated. Although the answer didn't come._

" _Come on, Lokes," Darcy encouraged. "We just wanna know."_

" _If you saw me, then what more is there to tell?" His face and tone didn't give away his thoughts, maintaining the same stoic-yet-frightened expression._

" _What more?" Clint scoffed. "How about why you're in a freaking gang? Why you paraded around as our friend when you were with Hydra? How long? Did you think we wouldn't find out?"_

 _Loki took a deep breath. "I met a guy and he made me promises. I was hoping to keep you and my other life separate, but we see how that turned out. It hasn't been very long, either. Are we done?"_

 _Only a very perceptive eye could tell that under his almost bored exterior, he was crawling inside. It was visible only in the way he dug his nail into the leather of the recliner, and how his ankle rolled slowly._

 _Darcy shook her head. "We're_ not _done. I want to know if- if you were with Hydra when those guys attacked me."_

" _I was not," he answered. It was the first time in the conversation that he looked genuine._

" _So you decided to join after they did that to me?" Her voice went quiet._

 _Bucky felt his blood heat up. He had done his best to remain impartial until they could get answers, but realizing all of the ways he had betrayed them was making it hard. He got even more angry when Loki didn't answer her._

" _Don't you think that you owe her an answer?" Bucky ground out. "You only pretended to be her friend - our friend - while fraternizing with the same people who tried to_ rape _her."_

 _He had expected Loki to look taken aback by his outburst, but he only looked resigned to it. And maybe… a little defiant? "I pretended nothing," Loki said. Emotion flickered in his tone._

" _No, you pretended something," Tony said, "You're either with us or with Hydra. And unless you can give us a really, really good reason explaining how you didn't betray us, then it's the latter."_

" _Come on, Tony," Loki evaded answering._

" _No!" Tony roared suddenly. "Don't 'come on, Tony' me. I'm pissed off and I have every right to be."_

 _Loki stood from his chair, going to leave._

" _Loki, if you walk out of here then you don't come back," Darcy called after him._

 _He hesitated for a second, looking like he might come to his senses. But his step only faltered for a moment before he was striding through Jane's front door. It slammed shut._

 _It was rare that the whole group was silent, but it had surprisingly happened several times throughout that day. This was one of those times._

 _The spell was broken by Sam whistling, "That went well."_

 _A humorless chuckle came from Darcy. "Right, so well." She glared down at the floor. "He didn't even care." She stood quickly, stalking out of the room and presumably up the stairs to Jane's bedroom._

 _Jane got up to follow after her._

 _A quick glance across the room showed the Thor was also expectedly left in a bad mood after the failed intervention. Although, what did they think would happen? It was Loki they were trying to help - he was bound to not make it easy on them._

 _Bucky shook his head, standing. "I'm gonna go."_

 _Steve was right behind him. "Me too." A chorus of distracted 'bye's sent them on their way._


End file.
